THE PERFECT ELECTORAL ENVIRONMENT FOR DEMOCRATS?:

Conservative revival is bad news for Lib Dems (Julian Glover, July 27, 2006, The Guardian)

As MPs start their two-month break from the Commons, the Lib Dems emerge as the main losers in a poll which also sees the Conservatives on a 13-year high, equalling their best Guardian/ICM rating since Black Wednesday in 1992.

Only 17% of voters said they would back the Lib Dems in an immediate general election, down four points on a month, and six points below the party's rating a year ago when it was led by Charles Kennedy. [...]

[T]his month's poll puts Labour up three points, to 35%, narrowing the gap on the Conservatives, who climb two points to 39%.

That is close to the 40% rating which Conservatives believe could allow them to challenge for power in a general election. The Conservatives last scored 39% in a Guardian/ICM poll in January 1993, as they recovered briefly before a decade-long collapse in public support.