London, July 28 : A majority of British citizens believe that the Conservative Party leader David Cameron is ready to govern the country after next election, an opinion poll has pointed.

According to ComRes poll, a majority of people (53 per cent) think that the Tories are ready to govern after the next election, while 37 per cent disagree.

Almost one in four Labour voters (23 per cent) agrees. The findings increase the pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he tries to head off moves by his own party to force him to stand down, The Independent reported.

ComRes found that 46 per cent of people agree that “David Cameron is ready to be Prime Minister”, while 42 per cent disagree. But 49 per cent agree with the statement “I don''t really know what David Cameron stands for”, with 44 per cent disagreeing.

Almost a quarter of Labour voters (22 per cent) and 44 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters believe Cameron would make a better Prime Minister than Brown. Overall, 
52 per cent of the public agree, while 34 per cent disagree. Scotland is the only part of Britain, which prefers Brown.

Although senior Labour figures rallied behind the beleaguered Prime Minister on Sunday, his critics warned that they would move against him in early September in an attempt to deny him the chance to fight back at the party’s annual conference starting on September 20.

“This poll reinforces what a lot of Labour MPs think – that Tory support is soft and we could fight back and win under another leader. Gordon does not have the public’s permission to expose the Tories on policy because people have given up on him,” a critic said.

Significantly, more than half of Labour supporters (51 per cent) agree the Tories are no longer nasty, as do 57 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters. But 34 per cent of those who intend to support the Tories think the party is still nasty.

The poll findings will fuel Labour’s intense debate following its crushing defeat in last Thursday’s Glasgow East by-election.

ComRes telephoned 1,021 adults on July 23-24. Data were weighted by past vote recall. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. (ANI)