British Prime Minister Gordon Brown failed to win over viewers in a live TV debate on Thursday, nailing yet another nail into the coffin of the hopes of his Labor party to win next week's general elections.

Polls show that Labor, which has been in power since 1997, seems set on course for a third place in next Thursday's general elections, a disastrous result not seen for more than 70 years.

Pollsters came out with an instant reaction from viewers, with the first poll results appearing just 25 minutes after the live TV debate.

The YouGov poll, which involved over 1,000 people, gave victory to Conservative leader David Cameron, with 41 percent. Second was Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg with 32 percent, and Brown came third with 25 percent.

Further polls also put Cameron first, but not by such a wide amount. A ComRes poll put Cameron on top with 35 percent, Clegg closely behind on 33 percent and Brown on 26 percent. A third poll, AngusReid, had Cameron on 36 percent, Clegg on 31 percent and Brown on 23 percent.

The most interesting poll results of the evening put Cameron and Clegg tied on 38 percent with Brown on 25 percent.

In many opinion polls throughout this fifth and final full week of campaigning, Brown's Labor party, the governing party for the past 13 years, has trailed in third place.

Labor has not won enough support over the course of the five-week campaign to stand a chance of winning next Thursday's general election, and now has no time to turn it around.

Brown was widely expected to perform well in this last-of-three live TV debates which have shaped and transformed the five-week general election campaign, and so give his party a much-needed boost in the final week of campaigning.

However, Brown entered the debate in the immediate wake of a public relations disaster. On Wednesday he called a pensioner voter who questioned him while he was campaigning in the north of England "a bigot," a remark that was picked up immediately by broadcasters.