Tony Blair's personal opinion poll ratings are now better than Margaret Thatcher's during the Falklands War, according to the latest MORI survey for the Times.

Blair's rating remains positive at 68 per cent - with 28 per cent dissatisfied. The net balance of +36 compares to Thatcher's +23 in June 1982 after Britain had recaptured the Falklands.

By contrast about half of the public still have no view either way of Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

Only 10 per cent regard him as a capable leader and four per cent as good in a crisis. At a similar stage four years ago 24 per cent of the public had no opinion of William Hague.

Charles Kennedy's rating remains steady, with 44 per cent satisfied and 15 per cent dissatisfied - virtually the same as the previous two months.