It was not long ago that that the modernising David Cameron was ahead in the opinion polls — just before Gordon Brown took over the Labour leadership and became prime minister in fact.

But the fate of the two men have taken very different turns since, with one recent opinion poll putting Brown and the Labour Party 10 points ahead of Cameron’s Conservatives.

Brown has been boosted by his steady handling of a series of emergencies including attempted bomb attacks in London and Glasgow, the country’s worst floods in 60 years and an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in farm animals.

In contrast, Cameron has suffered from a damaging party row over grammar school policy, humiliation in the Ealing Southall by-election, accusations of abandoning his constituents during the floods when he was in Rwanda and confusion during his attack over the government’s running of the NHS.

What does Cameron have to do to catch up with Brown’s Labour Party?

Does he need to move closer to the centre ground or to the right?

If he moves to the right will he suffer the same fate as his recent predecessors William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard?

Has New Labour made the centre-ground their own? Or does the centre-ground still even exist?

Tell us your views