No Northern Rock effect

A new Yougov poll in today's Daily Telegraph shows that the majority of people thought the government handled the Northern Rock situation well, and Labour remains six points clear of the Tories going into the party conference, at 39-33%. David Cameron remains 22 points behind Gordon Brown, who is on 42% as best prime minister (though for those LibDem fantasists who think Ming has shone this week, he scores a mere 6%). Most importantly, asked to choose between a Brown-led Labour government and a Cameron-led Tory government, Brown beats Cameron 47-32%, a recipe for an extraordinary landslide. I still find the idea of an autumn election unlikely, though it must be very tempting. And it is time for an inquest at Tory Central Office into how they so badly mishandled their response to Northern Rock, surely?