David Cameron is beating Gordon Brown in the polls

Brown pegged back in latest poll

Brown pegged back in latest poll

Gordon Brown’s leadership ratings have fallen well below those of David Cameron, a poll from YouGov suggests.

The survey for the Sunday Times newspaper puts the Conservatives six points ahead of Labour on 41 per cent, with the Lib Dems trailing on a meagre 13 per cent.

One-third of the 1,983 UK adults polled between November 14th and 16th thought Mr Brown was doing well as prime minister, while 43 per cent thought he was doing badly.

In contrast Conservative party leader Mr Cameron enjoyed 46 per cent giving his performance approval, compared to 31 per cent viewing him negatively.

Labour voters polled in the survey appear to be implicitly acknowledging Mr Cameron’s strong recent performance, as one in three said they thought Mr Cameron was doing well.

But just 11 per cent of Tory voters said the prime minister was doing well in his job.

When asked which government would be most trustworthy to “raise you and your family’s standard of living”, 27 per cent backed Labour and 32 per cent the Conservatives.

The news will not be welcomed by the prime minister, who has suffered a severe drop in support since the autumn party conference season.

He has been accused of stealing Conservative policy ideas, prevarication over whether to call a snap general election and poor performances against Mr Cameron in the House of Commons.

In one area, at least, his aloof exterior appears to be winning approval. Three-quarters said they believed Mr Brown was less close to US president George Bush than predecessor Tony Blair and 45 per cent say they believe he has got the relationship “about right”.