'Brown bounce' raises prospect of snap election

Election fever could be increased as private talks are opened today between the Labour leadership and MPs at Westminster over the party's preparations for the general election.

The prospect of a snap election was increased by two weekend polls which showed that the change of prime minister has given Labour a "Brown bounce" after the departure of Tony Blair. Labour has a seven-point lead over the Tories, and David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party has stalled.

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Labour victories in the two by-elections on Thursday could reinforce the message to Mr Brown that an early election could guarantee him another five years in No 10, rather than delaying for another two years.

The Tories were reeling from the embarrassment of discovering their candidate at Ealing Southall, Asian businessman Tony Lit, had posed for photographs with Tony Blair at a Labour fund-raising event. His company, a radio station, had donated £4,800 to Labour to fight elections.

It was a propaganda coup for Labour, who also expect to hold on to Mr Blair's former seat, Sedgefield in the North-east, with ease.

Today, Douglas Alexander, Labour's general election campaign manager, will begin private consultations with MPs about the election. Mr Alexander, the International Development Secretary, put Labour MPs on an election footing at a private meeting last Monday. MPs said he told them he wanted to ensure Labour was "never out-financed, out-organised or out-campaigned".

The prospects for an election victory have started to look good for Mr Brown. An ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph put Labour on 40 per cent compared with 33 per cent for the Tories and 19 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

The seven-point lead - its biggest since September 2005 - would be enough to give Mr Brown a majority of more than 100 seats, and may persuade him to strike early.

A separate ICM poll for the News of the World found that Mr Brown was backed by almost twice as many people as David Cameron to lead the country.