Boris Johnson’s popularity among members of the Tory faithful has taken a hit after weeks of division in the party over a myriad of issues.
It follows the toxic row over sleaze in politics after the botched attempt to prevent Owen Paterson’s suspension from the Commons, scaled-back plans for social care reform, rows over funds for rail infrastructure and concerns over the cost of living.
According to Conservative Home’s regular ‘cabinet league table’ survey, the prime minister is now second from bottom in net satisfaction ratings, with -17. The same survey last month had Mr Johnson on +20.
Paul Goodman, the editor of the website, which conducts the survey each month, posted that it was the second time Mr Johnson had “slipped into the red with the panel since the last election” after previously doing so in the autumn of 2020.
However, Mr Johnson is still some way of reaching the negative ratings of his predecessor in No 10, Theresa May, who appears to hold the record for the lowest ratings of a prime minister recorded by Conservative Home, with a -73 rating in April 2019.
It follows a poll conducted earlier this month by The Observer for Opinium, which also showed the prime minister’s approval ratings slumping to -20 among the public.
Just last week, Mr Johnson was also told to urgently improve his performance after a shambolic speech to the CBI conference, which promoted the question of whether “everything was OK” during a televised interview.
One senior backbencher told The Independent that disgruntled Tory MPs are currently holding their fire in the hope that the prime minister can shake off his recent run of disastrous miscalculations and political blunders.
According to the latest Conservative Home survey, Liz Truss, who was promoted to foreign secretary earlier this year, maintains her commanding lead over other cabinet ministers — a position she has held for over a year — with a net satisfaction of +82.
She is followed by the Brexit secretary Lord Frost, with international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, culture secretary Nadine Dorries and Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary and former vaccines minister, in third, fourth and fifth place respectively.
However, the website added that the issue of Channel migrant crossings, has driven a drop in support for Priti Patel, the home secretary, who has experienced a fall from +10 last month to just +0.2 this month.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is slightly up from his lowest place in the table of twelfth last month to ninth position in November.
