Blow for PM as Cameron leads poll by seven points

GORDON BROWN'S extraordinary political fight-back of recent months looked to be in danger of stalling today.

The first opinion poll of 2009 gave David Cameron a seven-point lead while a separate survey of 200 business leaders found plunging confidence in the Prime Minister's ability.

The findings will disappoint Labour MPs who were hoping to overtake the Conservatives in the New Year.

The YouGov poll found Mr Cameron keeping a lead of 41 per cent to Mr Brown's 34, with Liberal Democrats on 15. The figures, identical to YouGov's last poll in mid-December, suggest Mr Brown's progress may have been halted by the recession, poor Christmas sales and more job losses. In the autumn he bounced from 20 points behind to within five points of overtaking the Tories.

A ComRes survey of leading business figures for today's Independent found just 28 per cent were confident in Mr Brown's ability, down from 42 per cent in October. Chancellor Alistair Darling fell from 25 per cent to 16.

Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne are most trusted by the business community, but Mr Osborne's rating fell 36 to 29 per cent. Lib-Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable enjoyed higher ratings than either Mr Darling or Mr Osborne, at 41 per cent.