Women voters think Blair is `more smarmy than Major'

Women are more likely to see Tony Blair, the Labour leader, as smarmy and less likely to believe him trustworthy and sincere than John Major, according to a new opinion poll.

The survey, by MORI for the Independent on Sunday, supports the theory of a "gender gap" among Labour voters after a week in which the party strenuously denied such a gap existed.

The first poll to question women in detail about the personal attributes of the party leaders also shows that women are more likely to view the Labour leader as the most self-important and bossy of the three leaders.

Mr Major, however, emerges as the least attractive and least inspiring of the three.

The findings will raise doubts about what role, if any, Mr Blair's wife, Cherie, should play in the forthcoming election campaign. Mrs Blair, a senior barrister, is seen as more independent, intelligent and much more career-minded than Norma Major, who has enjoyed a higher than usual profile in recent months.

Both women are seen as assets to their husband's parties, but Mrs Major is seen as a greater help. Mrs Blair's attributes are more likely to appeal to younger women who already overwhelmingly back Labour.

The poll is certain to fuel the growing debate within Labour about the failure to win the same support among women over 55 - an important slice of the electorate - as it does among the younger age group.

They will encourage the Conservatives, who since the summer have taken the view that the Labour leader's personality is less of an asset than once thought. However, Mr Blair's allies believe that the findings reflect a temporary media preoccupation with the subject rather than the real feelings of individual voters.

One Labour source said that today's poll comes at the end of a concerted Conservative campaign to paint Mr Blair as smarmy; another conceded that, on this occasion, the opposition has been caught on the hop by the Tories' tactics.

MORI spoke last week to 772 women aged over 18. They gave the party an 11-point lead over the Conservatives - lower than any recent survey of both sexes. Labour is on 47 points, the Conservatives on 36, the Liberal Democrats on 11, nationalist parties on 3 and the Green Party on 2. Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party did not register a point.

Labour has begun to take action to try to correct its lack of impact among older female voters, although leadership sources point out that the party's overall poll position remains very healthy. One of Mr Blair's close allies, Margaret Hodge, has been given a new post as campaigner to the front-bench woman's spokeswoman, Janet Anderson.

Nevertheless, Clare Short, the party's front bench spokeswoman on Overseas Development, said that the Opposition's failure to secure more of the female vote is, within the international pattern, "a deep political failure for Labour".

Today's poll of women illustrates the enormous disparities among voting intentions of women of different age groups. While Labour has a 45-point lead over the Tories among women aged 18-24, the two parties are neck and neck (Labour 43, Conservative 42) among the over-55s.

That could be a crucial factor in a general election because, while the younger age group represents just six per cent of the electorate, women over 55 make up one in five of all voters. Turnout among older people is also significantly higher.

Four out of five of those polled believe that men and women look for different things when they vote. More than twice as many women think Labour has the best policies for women in Britain, as think the Tories do.

A majority of women (72 per cent) say they have no preference as to whether their MP is a man or a woman. However, among those who express an opinion, 18 to 24-year-olds are the age group most likely to prefer a woman; the over 55s are more likely to prefer a man.

Tony and the women, pp16-17