The remarkably low leadership ratings for Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson (who reminds me of a character from The Thick of It) starts off as Prime Minister with remarkably low ratings in the first Ipsos-MORI poll, and that’s before he loses a by-election:
(Look away now if you are a Tory Remainer who voted for Boris Johnson 'because we have to have an election winner')
Initial favourability ratings for our Prime Ministers:
Blair +60
May +35
Cameron +31
Brown +16
Major +15
Thatcher +2
Johnson -7Source: @IpsosMORI
— Mark Pack 🔶 (@markpack) August 1, 2019
Here’s Boris Johnson’s starting position – does he follow all the others? pic.twitter.com/zoVSjGGC30
— Ben Page, Ipsos MORI (@benatipsosmori) August 1, 2019
Interesting. A major part of the reason the Tories elected BJ was that he “could defeat Jeremy Corbyn”, both in general, and at a General Election. In Parliament, the BJ bluster seems to be quite effective against Corbyn (ironically, since most of what he says is questionable). But with recent developments including the Brecon result, apart from Parliamentary spats, this point is already looking irrelevant. Both Tories and Labour are in deep electoral trouble, and either Party would think twice about holding a GE under current conditions. Will Labour seriously consider replacing Corbyn now ?