Conservatives see chance to return to power

By Matt Falloon

CHELTENHAM, Britain (Reuters) - The Conservatives have a strong lead in opinion polls as people lose faith in the Labour government, but leader David Cameron still has to convince voters he has the policies to rule.

The recession is getting worse and scandals have engulfed Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government. Conservatives admit however that public disillusionment may not be enough to secure victory in an election which must be called by June 2010.

"We are quietly confident, but there's no room for complacency," said 34-year-old car industry employee Philip Sharp, a party activist from Swindon, at the Conservative Party's spring conference in the genteel spa town of Cheltenham.

In a speech Sunday, Cameron will seek to kickstart a year of campaigning that begins in June with European parliament and local council elections.

Scandals over smears and expenses -- a senior cabinet minister's husband charged porn films to her expenses account -- have rocked Labour this year and brought back memories of the last, sleaze-ridden days of the 1990s Conservative government.

"Labour is likely to suffer the same sort of problems we had in the '90s," said Conservative Member of the European Parliament Neil Parish at the conference. "It will be hard for them to motivate their voters."

POLICY BATTLE

In opposition, the Conservatives have often seemed more intent on attacking each other than the government, changing leader four times in eight years between 1997 and 2005.