Boost for Gordon Brown over Northern Rock crisis

By BENEDICT BROGAN

Last updated at 20:54 22 February 2008


Voters have refused to endorse Tory attacks on Gordon Brown over his handling of the Northern Rock crisis.

Two polls showed growing support for the Government's decision to nationalise the stricken bank, despite David Cameron's warning that it would be a calamity for the economy.

In a boost for the Prime Minister and Chancellor Alistair Darling, a poll in the Economist revealed only 5 per cent of voters blame them for the fiasco. Instead a majority - 60 per cent - believe Northern Rock's management was responsible for the way it was caught out by the credit crunch.

The poll also found that more than 60 per cent believed the Tories would have handled the Rock crisis no better, or even worse.

Ominously for Mr Cameron and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, the YouGov survey also showed a majority of voters believe Tory opposition to nationalisation was "playing politics".

The findings were echoed by a Populus poll in The Times, which revealed Mr Brown and Mr Darling are regaining voter confidence, putting them ahead of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne by 38 to 34 per cent as the most trusted to cope with economic problems this year.

The poll results raise a question mark over Mr Cameron's decision to raise the stakes so high over the nationalisation of Northern Rock by claiming it was comparable to Black Wednesday under John Major in 1992.

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