London: Britain's ruling Labour party on Saturday
seemed to be heading for its worst election defeat in 92 years
as the prime minister admitted that he has paid a very "heavy
price" for his 'bigoted' outburst against an elderly widow,
even as two top newspapers withdrew their support to him.
Days before the general election on May 6, a Daily Mail
poll revealed Labour support has crashed to 24 per cent
following Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 'bigot' gaffe and his
lacklustre performance in the final TV debate.
But it provided cold comfort for Conservative leader
David Cameron - putting his party on 33 per cent, just one
ahead of the Liberal democrats.
The findings suggest Britain is firmly on course for a
hung Parliament - even though a majority of voters believe
that outcome will be bad for the country and the economy.
Meanwhile, Brown admitted that Wednesday's encounter
with 68-year-old Gillian Duffy had damaged him.
"I have personally paid this heavy price for a mistake
that I made," he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"Sometimes you say things in the heat of the moment,
sometimes you pay a very heavy price for those things.
Sometimes you say things you greatly regret. And I have paid a
very high price for it," he said.
In a TV interview, Brown had to explain away his remark
by saying he had mistakenly linked her concerns about
immigration with those about university tuition fees for her
grandchildren.
Brown suffered a further blow to his election hopes as
two major newspapers withdrew their support for Labour party.
Guardian stated that it would support Lib Dems and The
Times would back Tories. The Daily Telegraph, The Sun and
several other newspapers are already campaigning on behalf of
the Conservatives.
Brown dismissed them switching their endorsements away
from Labour as irrelevant and declared he would ramp up
campaigning with just five days left to turn the General
Election around.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, May 01, 2010, 23:28