BritainÕs Prime Minister Gordon Brown (l) sits next to Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor Jack Straw as he chairs the weekly Cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street, in central London, July 3, 2007.

Gordon Brown’s attempted fightback has failed to win over voters ahead of this week’s crucial Crewe and Nantwich by-election, according to a new poll.
Labour is 17 points adrift of the Conservatives, the Coes survey for The Independent on Sunday shows.
The Tories are on 43 percent, up three from last month. Labour is unchanged on 26 percent, while the Lib Dems are down one on 19 percent.
The £2.7 billion package to offset the controversial axing of the 10p tax rate has not put right the problem, most of the public say.
The first poll since the tax change announced by Alistair Darling is yet another damaging blow to the Prime Minister. Some 49 percent of voters say that it will not make a difference, compared with 39 percent who think it will.
Nearly six out of 10--57 percent--believe the Labour Party must change leader if it is to have a chance of winning the next election. Just 36 percent disagree. Some 43 percent of Labour voters think the party should ditch Brown.
The 17-point Tory lead is the largest in a Coes poll and the fourth highest overall since 1987, when Margaret Thatcher was at the peak of her power. It would give David Cameron a 128-seat majority in a general election. Labour insiders now say they need a miracle to hold on to the 7,078 majority in Crewe on Thursday.
Last night an ICM poll in the constituency for the News of the World gave the Tories an eight-point lead, putting them on 45 percent to Labour’s 37 percent.
A national YouGov survey for The Sunday Times puts the Conservatives 20 points ahead on 45 percent to 25 percent.
The constituency will be flooded with dozens of ministers and senior Tories and Lib Dems as the most important by-election in Labour’s 11 years in government draws near.
The Prime Minister tried to evoke one of the high points of his premiership yesterday with a speech reminiscent of his address to the Labour party conference last September, the last time his party enjoyed a double-digit lead. Brown attempted to remind voters of his personal attributes and the “moral compass“ underpinning his political beliefs in a speech to the Church of Scotland.
In a nod to his political troubles the Prime Minister, the son of a Church of Scotland minister, said the “challenges of recent months“ had taught him “what really matters“.
The poll offers a crumb of comfort for Brown, as voters are split on whether Cameron is the right person to lead the country.
Some 46 percent think the Tory leader has what it takes to be a good Prime Minister, only four points ahead of those who disagree. Voters are similarly divided over whether Cherie Blair was right to publish her memoirs now at a time of embarrassment for the Prime minister: 43 percent were in agreement and 45 percent against.
Frank Field, the leader of the 10p tax rebels, tells The Independent on Sunday today that he remains “genuinely puzzled“ that Brown had axed the 10p band of income tax in his final budget as chancellor.
He reveals that the prime minister thanked him in a telephone call after Field apologized for describing Brown as “so unhappy in himself“.
In his speech to the Church of Scotland Synod in Edinburgh, the Prime Minister said: “For me, a life is best measured not by what office or title you hold but by what difference you can make by seeking to do what you judge the right thing, however difficult, and by the causes to which you dedicate your efforts.“
Brown highlighted the capacity of individuals to force change as he criticized the uncaring and “unnatural“ military dictatorship in Burma.
The speech contrasted with the “Sermon on the Mound“ delivered by Thatcher 20 years ago. The then prime minister provoked criticism with an address on the issue of personal responsibility to members of the Church of Scotland. But Brown had a warm reception and was loudly applauded.
Meanwhile, it was reported Brown has moved to slap down two Cabinet ministers in a bitter government row over plans to charge householders a controversial “pay-as you-throw“ rubbish tax.

Attempting to lay a symbolic claim to his party’s presidential nomination, the US Democrat Senator Barack Obama will mark the latest round of primary voting with a rally in Iowa, where his solid win in January caucuses propelled him to his status as the frontrunner.
According to AP, Obama was campaigning Saturday for primaries Tuesday in Oregon and Kentucky as his aides announced the rally on primary night in Iowa, which they described as “a critical general election state that Democrats must win in November.“
Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton has a strong lead in polls in Kentucky, but Obama has the advantage in Oregon. Obama has built a solid lead in Democratic National Convention delegates over Clinton, and is working overtime to cast an image of inevitability to his campaign for the nomination. In recent days, he has spent more time focused on his differences with certain Republican nominee John McCain than sparring with Clinton.

France is scheduled to close some of its military bases in Africa when it starts the implementation of the new 15-year defense and national security strategy, the French daily ’Le Figaro’ reported.
A new white paper touching on defense and national security policies has been issued to parliamentarians who are directly concerned with defense issues, according to the newspaper. The document, which was prepared by a special commission established by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to specifically review the issue and come up with concrete proposals, is expected to be debated and adopted at a cabinet meeting in June, according to defense ministry sources.
While adapting its defense policy to the new international context, France must take into account the imperative of budgetary constraints in order to make well-informed choices, according to defense analysts.
A number of equipment are expected to pay the price of the economic saving measures, said one source, adding that military bases in Africa would be one of the first casualties of the draft defense and security policy.

South Korea’s president said on Sunday his country stands ready to help North Korea, but he indicated that the isolated communist country has to ask for it--and to start to change, according to AP.
President Lee Myung-bak also said South Korean officials were prepared to meet with their North Korean counterparts any time to try resolving pending issues.
“We would help North Korea if it moves toward changes,“ Lee said in a televised speech marking the 28th anniversary of the pro-democracy movement in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
Lee did not elaborate, but his comments appeared to be a call for the North to propose a meeting to ask the South for food aid. South Korea has made clear that Pyongyang needs to make a formal request for food, but the North has refused to ask for help from South Korea, previously a key donor, because of anger over Lee’s hard-line stance toward the North.

India’s foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year, Reuters reported.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Wednesday, a day after their top civil servants hold talks.
The nuclear-armed rivals launched peace efforts in 2004 after nearly going to war a fourth time after Islamist militant attacks in India linked to a nearly 20-year revolt, which Pakistan sympathizes with, against Indian rule in the Kashmir region.
While ties have warmed, the two sides have made no significant progress on their main dispute over the divided, Muslim-majority Himalayan region they both claim.
A heavy clash on their Kashmir border this month underscored just how tenuous the improvement in relations is.
Analysts in both Pakistan and India said Mukherjee will be sounding out Pakistan’s new leaders and trying to determine who is devising policy.