Nick Clegg nicks the top spot in election race

 | Mail Online

Nick Clegg’s sparkling performance in the TV debate between the three party leaders has enabled the Liberal Democrats to grab the lead in the Election campaign.

And it has boosted Gordon Brown’s hopes of clinging to power by forming a coalition government with the Lib Dems – in return for a seat at the Cabinet table for Mr Clegg.

In one of the most astonishing Election turnarounds for a century, a BPIX poll for The Mail on Sunday shows that support for the Lib Dems has soared to 32 per cent, one point ahead of the Conservatives on 31, with Labour trailing third at 28.

The result of the poll – the most authoritative conducted since the televised debate – represents an unprecedented 30 per cent rise in the Lib Dems’ ratings in a week.

And it is the first-ever opinion survey that has shown the Liberal Democrats, or their predecessors the Liberals, in first place.

The short-lived SDP-Lib Dem Alliance was briefly ahead in the Eighties. But you have to go back to 1906, before opinion polls or television existed, for the last time the Liberals had the most popular support.

They won a landslide Election under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and polled nearly 50 per cent of all votes.

Polling experts say it is possible the Liberal Democrat lead is a blip that could fade before the Election.