The scale of the task facing Michael Howard is revealed in a new YouGov poll for the Telegraph.

The Conservatives won 32 per cent of the popular vote at the 1997 general election and 33 per cent in 2001.

According to the survey they are again on 33 per cent, having made no sustained progress over the past half-decade, and are worse off now than when Iain Duncan Smith was leader.

Labour is on just 34 per cent compared with 42 per cent at the last general election, and the Liberal Democrats are up from 19 per cent three years ago to 23 per cent now.

The Telegraph concludes that "the verdict of millions of unaligned voters is thus unmistakable: 'Anybody but the Tories'."

Meanwhile, the Times reports that the Conservative party's new headquarters on Victoria Street are a little spartan.

The walls are "noticeably bare" with "no picture of Michael Howard, nor indeed any reminder of the Conservatives’ heritage".