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The Opinium pollsters declared “Conservatives’ lead falls” as it found “Labour gains some of the Leave vote”.

Before socialists buy champagne, the Tory lead was still a majority-creating 12%, but Jeremy Corbyn can still dream of Downing Street.

His premiership might remain a possibility rather than a probability, but jumpy Tories now acknowledge that Boris Johnson is beatable.

One worried Conservative in a safe seat confided to me that a winter NHS crisis, Johnson opening his mouth and putting a size 10 in it, or another Jacob Rees-Mogg Grenfell gaffe could drop the keys to No10 in Corbyn’s lap.

Terror is mounting daily in Tory HQ that the head-to-head TV debates will reveal more of the same from a fading fool against compelling real change offered by an elderly sage.

Jaded Johnson is not a great campaigner, he’s just a PR spiv. The cameras panned out at his Trump-style rally in Brum to reveal it was a stunt from the US president’s British mini-me, showing a few hundred acolytes crammed into a small corner of a vast hall to mislead viewers into thinking they were a large crowd.

The Tory PM is avoiding voters as if they were angry husbands, which is a tacit admission by his handlers that he is losing control and not in charge.

Labour’s spending plans to boost incomes, revive public services and kickstart the economy may gain appeal and credibility as the campaign nears December 12.

Scrooge Boris can pretend to be Santa Johnson, but he is unconvincing because, unlike Labour, tax rises on the rich are not planned to fund his election promises and his expensive bad Brexit would punch a gigantic hole in the country’s finances.

(Image: REUTERS)

Scrutinise the Tory record and Britain deserves better, as gaffe-tastic Johnson admitted.

That Tory promise of 6,000 extra family doctors? The 5,000 GPs promised in 2015 turned into a 1,600 cut. More money for schools? The majority would endure budget cuts from next April.

Conservatives crow that two former Labour MPs have endorsed Johnson, but ignore the fact that the PM is not trusted by brother Jo, or the Queen.

Corbyn’s unpopularity is a drag on Labour, which would be tantalisingly closer to power with a fresh face.

In a volatile era, after nine years of dreary Tory austerity, a yearning for change is Corbyn’s golden ticket.