2006 PSA Awards Ceremony Poll Ratings of post-war Chancellors Q For each of the following Chancellors of the Exchequer, please indicate how successful or unsuccessful you think each were overall while in office? Mean rating Gordon Brown 7.9 Stafford Cripps 6.1 Kenneth Clarke 6.1 Roy Jenkins 6.0 Hugh Dalton 5.7 Rab Butler 5.7 Harold Macmillan 5.4 Hugh Gaitskell 5.4 Denis Healey 5.0 Nigel Lawson 4.9 Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 2 Ratings of post-war Chancellors Q For each of the following Chancellors of the Exchequer, please indicate how successful or unsuccessful you think each were overall while in office? Mean rating Geoffrey Howe 4.5 James Callaghan 4.5 Peter Thorneycroft 4.0 Reginald Maudling 3.9 Ian Macleod 3.9 Derek Heathcoat-Amory 3.8 John Major 3.7 John Selwyn-Lloyd 3.6 Anthony Barber 2.9 Norman Lamont 2.3 Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 3 Providing economic stability Q Which of the two following Chancellors do you think were most successful at providing the country with economic stability? Top answers Gordon Brown 80% Kenneth Clarke 32% Rab Butler 14% Stafford Cripps 10% Hugh Dalton 9% Roy Jenkins 9% Nigel Lawson 9% Geoffrey Howe 6% Harold Macmillan 3% Denis Healey 3% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 4 Leaving a lasting legacy Q Which of the two following Chancellors do you think were most successful at leaving a lasting legacy on Britain’s economy? Top answers Gordon Brown 42% Nigel Lawson 27% Geoffrey Howe 20% Kenneth Clarke 17% Hugh Dalton 16% Stafford Cripps 15% Rab Butler 7% Denis Healey 7% Hugh Gaitskell 6% Roy Jenkins 5% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 5 Working independently from their PM Q Which of the two following Chancellors do you think were most successful at working independently from their Prime Minister? Top answers Gordon Brown 64% Nigel Lawson 17% Kenneth Clarke 15% Roy Jenkins 14% Rab Butler 9% Harold Macmillan 7% Denis Healey 7% Stafford Cripps 6% James Callaghan 3% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 6 Characteristics of a successful Chancellor Q Here is a list of characteristics some scholars consider to be important for a Chancellor to possess in order for his/her Chancellorship to be considered to be successful. Please tick those three that you consider to be most important to being successful ? Chancellor Prime Minister Sound judgement 45% 42% Understands economics 42% n/a 38% Luck 23% Understands the problems facing Britain 29% 16% Decisiveness 24% 23% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006); 139 academics (2004) Source: Ipsos MORI 7 Characteristics of a successful Chancellor Q Here is a list of characteristics some scholars consider to be important for a Chancellor to possess in order for his/her Chancellorship to be considered to be successful. Please tick those three that you consider to be most important to being successful ? Chancellor Prime Minister Good in a crisis 22% 24% 14% Has a good relationship with the PM n/a Understands world problems 12% 2% 10% Stable parliamentary majority 20% 10% Leadership skills 64% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 8 Characteristics of a successful Chancellor Q Here is a list of characteristics some scholars consider to be important for a Chancellor to possess in order for his/her Chancellorship to be considered to be successful. Please tick those three that you consider to be most important to being successful ? Chancellor Prime Minister Integrity 8% 11% 7% Good quality colleagues 18% Strong convictions/ideology 6% 4% High level ministerial government 5% experience 3% 5% Honesty 1% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 9 Characteristics of a successful Chancellor Q Here is a list of characteristics some scholars consider to be important for a Chancellor to possess in order for his/her Chancellorship to be considered to be successful. Please tick those three that you consider to be most important to being successful ? Chancellor Prime Minister 5% Ruthlessness 6% In touch with ordinary people 4% 8% Down-to-earth 2% 1% Charisma 1% 9% Poor opposition 1% 5% 0% Patriotism 0% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 10 Most capable Chancellor Q Who do you think would make the most capable Chancellor of the Exchequer? Osborne Don’t know/ None/ Other 4% 21% Cable 8% 68% Brown Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 11 Most capable Prime Minister Q Who do you think would make the most capable Prime Minister? PSA General Public Don’t know/ None/ Other Cameron Cameron 14% Don’t know 24% 27% 34% Labour lead Labour lead +7 +35 10% Campbell 49% 11% 31% Brown Campbell Brown Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006); c.1000 British adults, 18+, 11-13 Aug 2006 Source: Ipsos MORI 12 Composition of the House of Commons Q What do you think will be the composition of the House of Commons after the next General Election? And what would you personally like it to be? Expect Prefer 0% Labour landslide (100+ majority) 4% Comfortable Labour win (50-99 majority) 5% 25% Narrow Labour win (1-49 majority) 48% 25% Hung parliament (no overall majority) 28% 21% Narrow Conservative win (1-49 majority) 15% 9% Comfortable Conservative win 3% (50-99 majority) 5% Conservative landslide (100+ majority) 0% 1% Base: 283 PSA members (13 Sept – 31 Oct 2006) Source: Ipsos MORI 13.