Not long ago, the polls -- and the press -- were forecasting a landslide election victory for the Conservative Party under David Cameron. Back then, James and I predicted that "Labour may well still stand a fighting chance of a hung parliament at next year's general election".

We were pilloried for daring to express such an unconventional and unorthodox view. We've stuck to it -- to the displeasure and outrage of the right-wing echo chamber in the blogosphere. (Disclaimer: James believes Labour could, perhaps, still win an outright majority; I don't. I think their best bet is a hung parliament.)

The latest polls suggest the spectre of a hung parliament continues to haunt the Tories. Here is the Telegraph on its latest YouGov poll:

If the headline figures in this month's poll were replicated at the election, with the Tories securing 38 per cent of the vote and Labour 31, then David Cameron would be 20 seats short of a majority.

What the YouGov survey has been showing consistently for some time is that Labour is virtually certain to lose power but that there is no equivalent certainty that the Tories will gain it.

What should be especially worrying for the Tories is that the trends uncovered by YouGov's tracker are moving predominantly in the government's favour. On the key question of whether people feel the financial situation of their household will improve over the next year, the proportion who think it will get better has doubled in the past year from 12 to 23 per cent.

Here is the Mirror's MORI poll from the weekend:

An exclusive Ipsos MORI survey for the Mirror shows the Conservative lead falling. Labour are on 32 per cent -- their highest rating since last April.

The Conservatives are still ahead on 40 per cent and the Lib Dems have 16 per cent.

As a general election result in May that would lead to a hung parliament with the Tories as the largest party.

The figures are based on the 52 per cent of people who say they are "certain to vote". But if all those saying they back a party turn out at the polls -- 78 per cent -- the Tory lead falls from 38 per cent to 34 per cent.

That would make Labour the largest party in a hung parliament with 300 seats, the Tories 278 and the Liberal Democrats 38.

And here is the Mail on Sunday's BPIX poll:

A BPIX survey for the Mail on Sunday showed the Conservatives on 39 points, Labour on 30 and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats on 18.

If the figures were repeated in the election, it would result in a hung parliament, leaving Mr Cameron nine seats short of an overall Commons majority. He would then be forced to form a pact with Mr Clegg or the Ulster Unionists to get into No 10.

It is the first time for more than two years that the Tory rating has fallen below the crucial 40 per cent threshold in a BPIX poll. In June 2008, the Conservatives were on 49 per cent, 23 points ahead of Labour.

Isn't it astonishing that David Cameron, more than four years into his leadership of the Conservative Party, and facing a governing party that has been in office for nearly 13 years, has failed to "seal the deal" with the British electorate? That we might be heading for the first hung parliament in the UK since 1974?

The Tories' hopes for a working majority may now depend solely on Lord Ashcroft's substantial donations not being rejected by the Electoral Commission -- and on the (non-dom?) billionaire peer's cash-rich "marginal seats strategy" compensating for the party's shortcomings in the national polls.