Gordon Brown is facing pressure from within his party to call a snap general election after his leadership “bounce” yesterday grew into Labour’s biggest poll lead since before the Iraq war.

As the Prime Minister tried to remain aloof from election talk, ministers and opposition politicians speculated about an early poll and bookmakers slashed the odds on him going to the country in the autumn.

One Cabinet minister broke cover to declare that he would “relish” the chance to take on the Conservatives.

Although sources close to Mr Brown insisted that he was still more likely to wait until May or June, they admitted that the debate about timing appeared no longer to be about 2008 versus 2009 but this autumn versus next year.

Mr Brown has been heavily boosted by his handling of three unexpected events since he took over: the London and Glasgow bombs, the floods and the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

And ministers privately accept that the temptation for him to announce an election during Labour’s conference next month will grow if the honeymoon continues.

In a further blow to David Cameron, the latest poll, a YouGov survey for The Sunday Times, gave Labour a ten-point lead. Labour was on 42 per cent, the Conservatives were on 32 per cent and the Liberal Democrats were trailing on 14 per cent. Mr Brown also registered another healthy lead in an ICM poll for the Sunday Mirror, which put Labour on 39 per cent to the Conservatives’ 33 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 18 per cent.

Mr Brown not only enjoyed an overall positive satisfaction rating of 40 per cent but even got the backing of more Tory voters than were against him (44 per cent to 36 per cent) in the ICM poll. But more were dissatisfied with Mr Cameron than satisfied - by a margin of four points.

YouGov found that 65 per cent of voters believed that Mr Brown was doing well - with just 17 per cent saying that he was doing badly and 36 per cent expressing pleasant surprise at how he had performed so far.

A majority (55 per cent) believed that Mr Cameron was performing poorly, with 29 per cent saying that he was doing well - an almost complete reversal of his scores in April.

Meanwhile, John Hutton, the Business Secretary, appeared to acknowledge the increasing Labour confidence about an election. Asked if there would be a snap election, he told the Sunday programme on BBC News 24: “These are matters for Gordon Brown, the new Prime Minister. But we relish an opportunity to take on the Tories [who] have now become even more right-wing than they were under William Hague and Michael Howard.”

Another senior minister told The Times that the mood within the party had completely changed and that the election machine was keen to be put into action, despite the party’s financial problems.

A leading party official said that the party was on the alert in case Mr Brown took the autumn option. In a further move that suggests an election could come within at least the next nine months the party has appointed a director of general election resources.

Jon Mendelsohn, a businessman and former adviser to Tony Blair, will deal with improving the party’s finances, membership and organisation. Mr Mendelsohn will report directly to Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary and the Prime Minister’s general election co-ordinater, and Peter Watt, the Labour general secretary.

The bookmaker William Hill slashed the odds on a snap autumn election from 16-1 to 3-1. It also cut the price for Labour to win the next general election, whenever it comes, from 4-7 to 8-15 - the shortest price under Mr Brown’s leadership.

YouGov interviewed a representative sample of 1,966 voters, online, across Britain, on August 9 and 10. ICM polled a random sample of 1,007 adults by phone on August 8 and 9.

40.5 Labour

32.5 Conservatives

16 Liberal Democrats

Source: Average percentage score from two weekend polls: YouGov/The Sunday Times, ICM/Sunday Mirror

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