Jim Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher: Parties sometimes win with unpopular leaders. Jim Callaghan was better liked than Margaret Thatcher in 1979. They can also win when they are behind on the economy, as Tony Blair was in 1997. But there is no recent precedent for victory when voters like neither a party leader nor its economic policies, according to The Guardian. So, with all to play for in the election, Labour economic strategy has three elements. Firstly, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, has sought to rebuild the party reputation for economic competence by agreeing to stick to George Osborne spending plans during his first year at the Treasury and to reduce the national debt as a share of the UK annual output during the course of the next parliament. Balls has said Labour would be prepared to borrow for investment in areas such as public transport and house building and Labour has a twin deficit problem. Ed Miliband is seen as less fit to be prime minister than David Cameron. And the Conservatives are a long way ahead on economic competence. Labour has eight months to deal with its twin deficit problem, starting this week. Things are not quite as grim as they might seem, since the Conservatives have a few problems of their own. Parties in power for more than one term tend to get less popular over time: no re-elected government since 1955 has increased its share of the vote. And governments that preside over periods of falling living standards as this one has tend to get turfed out. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.