Boris Johnson was on the receiving end of vitriol from hundreds of fans chanting their dismay at the prime minister at a major sporting event on Monday evening.
The rowdy crowd at the World Darts Championship in London’s Alexandra Palace chanted: “Stand up if you hate Boris!”
One member of the darts audience held up a picture of some cheese and wine with the message: “This is a business meeting.” Another held a sign which said: “All round to Boris’s later.”
The prime minister is facing growing frustration at the uncertainty over restrictions this Christmas, and mounting anger at revelations about government gatherings held during Covid curbs last year.
Mr Johnson is under fire over a picture of himself and his staff with cheese and wine in the No 10 garden at a time of tight restrictions last May – which Downing Street has insisted was a work meeting.
Questioned on Monday about what they were doing in the garden, the prime minister insisted that the photograph showed: “Those were people at work, talking about work.”
Mr Johnson’s explanation appeared to contradict comments made earlier by deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, who suggested that the gathering was held “after” work had finished.
The darts crowd chant follows a viral clip in which Leeds United fans were heard singing “Boris Johnson is a c***” at the club’s match with Arsenal on Saturday.
Mr Johnson’s approval rating as prime minister has dropped to an all-time low, according to a YouGov poll from earlier this month. The pollster found the PM’s net favourability rating now stood at -42, with 66 per cent of the public having an unfavourable opinion of Mr Johnson.
Labour have been ahead in voting intention polls for the past fortnight. The latest monthly ‘cabinet league table’ survey by ConservativeHome showed the prime minister second from bottom in net satisfaction ratings among Tory supporters, with -17.
And a new Savanta ComRes poll for The Independent shows Mr Johnson is distrusted as a source of Covid guidance by almost six out of 10 Britons (59 per cent) – more than distrust information from social media.
The slump in his poll numbers follows a series of self-inflicted wounds building since the Owen Paterson scandal, and outrage over gatherings held at No 10 and government departments when the rest of the country faced severe restrictions last year.
