Third minister hints at May 6 election date

Britain's Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth speaks at the Royal United Services Institute in London December 17, 2009. Ainsworth spoke on the progress being made in Afghanistan.

LONDON (Reuters) - Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth became the third minister in recent weeks to hint that Prime Minister Gordon Brown may pick May 6 as the date for a national election that must be held by June.

May 6 has long been seen as the likeliest date for the election as it coincides with municipal polls in much of the country, and Brown's agreement last week to testify at an inquiry into the Iraq war before he holds an election rules out many earlier dates.

An ICM poll in Sunday's News of the World said that the Conservatives were on track for a comfortable victory over Brown's Labour party, but Ainsworth said that there was still a chance to win back public support.

"I think they will wake up and rue the day if they wind up with a Conservative government in charge of this country after 6th May," he told Sky News in a television interview.

Both Health Minister Andy Burnham and Europe Minister Chris Bryant in mentioning that date in recent weeks. Burnham corrected himself moments after to say the election would be "later this year," while Bryant's office later said he did not know the exact date of the election.

A Downing Street spokeswoman declined to comment on Ainsworth's remarks as she said it was a party political matter.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)