DAVID CAMERON’S debut as Tory leader has given the Conservatives a surge of support that has put them ahead of Labour for the first time in 18 months, a Sunday Times poll shows.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people, carried out since Cameron was declared leader of the party on Tuesday, reveals that the Tories have turned a two-point deficit to a one-point lead.

Cameron’s victory has pushed the Tories up to 37% of the vote, two points up on last month, while Labour is down one to 36%. The Liberal Democrats have also been squeezed, down two to 18%.

Even more dramatic is the swing in Tory fortunes since the early autumn, before the start of the leadership contest. Then, Labour had an eight-point lead. The Tories were last in the lead in June 2004, when Tony Blair was under intense pressure over Iraq.

Another finding in the YouGov poll will cause panic in Labour circles. Cameron’s approval rating, with a net 34% of people expecting him to do well, is well above that for Blair and Charles Kennedy, the Lib Dem leader.

More significantly, it easily outstrips Gordon Brown’s rating, which has slumped. His net approval rating was 41% before the general election; now it is just 4%.

The good showing for Cameron is a reflection of how he has handled his first few days in the job, especially his performance at prime minister’s questions in the Commons when he said Blair was the future once.

In another poll, by ICM for The Sunday Telegraph, the Tories have moved into a two-point lead. They are on 37%, with Labour on 35% and the Lib Dems on 21%. ICM polled just over 1,000 people.

The figure of 40% is the “magic number” that opposition parties should aim to hit consistently if they are to have a realistic chance of winning power. The Tories have not hit 40% in an ICM poll since just before Black Wednesday in September 1992, when sterling was forced out of the European exchange-rate mechanism, battering their reputation for economic competence.

The poll also showed that 40% believed Cameron was Blair’s “natural successor” while 46% said Brown filled that role. Fewer than 30% said the Tory leader was too inexperienced to be prime minister at the next election.

A BPIX poll for today’s The Mail on Sunday shows the gap between Labour and the Tories has narrowed — but still puts Labour ahead with 38% and the Conservatives on 37%.

The survey suggested some of Cameron’s success may be down to his wife Samantha, who is pregnant with their third child. Asked who was the best role model as “first lady” in No 10, 34% chose her while 21% opted for Cherie Blair.

The Camerons also scored well as a couple: 38% said they would rather invite them to dinner compared with 33% who would put out the welcome mat for the Blairs.

The results mean that as the new leader Cameron has had the biggest impact on his party’s appeal since Blair took charge of Labour 11 years ago.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Michael Howard, the former Tory leader, gives his strongest indication that he voted for Cameron throughout the leadership campaign, saying: “I’m very happy about the outcome, let’s leave it at that.”

Despite the poll findings, Cameron last night faced embarrassment after the party’s only woman MEP, Caroline Jackson, who represents the South West, threatened to resign over his policy that would see the Tory group split from the centre-right block in the European parliament.

The row could open a problem for the new leader, who has made much of his commitment to bring more women into frontline politics. Jackson said the plan by Cameron would leave the party isolated and claimed that it showed the new leader “knows nothing” about the politics of the European parliament.

Last night Cameron showed no sign of backing down.

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