'Strong leader' Brown sees polls soar

GORDON Brown's poll ratings have soared over his handling of the latest terror threat.

The new Prime Minister has dramatically moved ahead of his Tory rival David Cameron with voters seeing him as strong and with the qualities needed to lead the country.

The latest Populus poll comes as Mr Brown prepares to reveal plans to reform the constitution giving more power to MPs and after a desperate bid by Tory leader David Cameron to regain ground with a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle.

Labour has gained four points to 37 per cent since early last month with the Conservatives down two to 34, the Liberal Democrats up one to 18 and other parties down three at 11.

This is in line with other recent polls and suggests that Mr Brown's arrival in No 10 has ended the sustained Conservative lead in such surveys over the last 14 months. But Mr Brown will be most pleased with his personal rating, with the number regarding him as strong jumping by 14 points to 70 per cent in the last month compared to 43 for Mr Cameron, up six.

And the number of people polled who believe Mr Brown has what it takes to be a good Prime Minister has risen by 16 points to 57 per cent compared with 37 for Mr Cameron.