' With the shadow of Iraq and renewed tensions with Gordon Brown hanging over Mr Blair during Labour's conference in Brighton, the Populus poll sends a sharply mixed message to the Prime Minister and highlights the contradiction of British politics today,' said the Times.

However, another Populus survey for the News of the World put support for Labour at just 28 per cent, compared with 29 per cent for the Liberal Democrats and 32 per cent for the Conservatives, while a separate poll for the Independent on Sunday suggested that Labour held a narrow lead, with support at 32 per cent against 30 per cent for the Tories and 27 per cent for the Lib Democrats.

Yet another poll, a MORI poll in the Observer gave the Conservatives 33 per cent, Labour 32 per cent and the Liberal  Democrats 25 per cent.

According to the Times poll, nearly two thirds of voters (64 per cent) think that Mr Blair has not been a good Prime Minister overall, but exactly the same number still prefer him to Mr Howard.

 'The public is divided into three camps: 30 per cent think Mr Blair has been a good Prime Minister, while a further 30 per cent think he has not been a good Prime Minister and would rather have Mr Howard,' the Times said.  

However, 'the key middle group of 34 per cent, up five points since July, reject Mr Blair but still prefer him to Mr Howard. The worry for Mr Blair is that just 59 per cent of Labour voters think he has been a good Prime Minister, a five-point fall since July, while fewer than half are satisfied with the Government,' the report said.

'Three quarters of voters (75 per cent) are dissatisfied with the Government, but 60 per cent still prefer Labour to the Tories,' it said.

 'The middle group of those dissatisfied with Labour but still preferring them to the Tories is 41 per cent, including a majority of Labour supporters (53 per cent, up six points since May). Fewer than one in five of all voters (19 per cent) is satisfied with the Labour Government overall. The highest level of dissatisfaction is among professionals and managers (79 per cent), but 61 per cent still prefer Labour to the Tories.'

Meanwhile, Blair repeated his determination to lead Labour into the election. "I'm not the wobbling sort," he told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme.