Half of Britons think Boris Johnson has performed badly as PM, poll finds

Almost the same proportion support Conservative MPs calling a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

17 February 2022

Half of Britons think Boris Johnson has not been up to scratch as Prime Minister – a jump of 13 points from last year, a poll has found.

An Ipsos UK survey carried out last week suggests that 54% of Britons think the Prime Minister has done a bad job to date, with almost the same proportion supporting a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

Pollsters said the results show a continuing trend of Mr Johnson’s personal rating “weakening”.

It comes as the Prime Minister finds himself in the middle of a storm about claims of coronavirus rule-breaking in Downing Street.

The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating 12 alleged parties held at the top of Government during the Covid lockdowns, with Mr Johnson one of about 50 people to have been handed formal legal questionnaires by officers.

The Conservative Party leader has also faced criticisms elsewhere, including in relation to his Government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the bid to delay a Commons suspension for former Tory minister and MP Owen Paterson last year.

Ipsos’s survey found that Mr Johnson’s ratings have slipped across the board, with less than a third of the population believing he has performed well – down by eight points on last year’s polling.

In February 2021, 41% thought he was doing a bad job but that figure has shot up by 13 points to well over half.

According to the polling company’s results, 54% of those who voted Conservative in the 2019 general election see him as having done a good job but that is down from 69% 12 months ago.

The proportion of those Tory voters – who won him his 80-seat majority just over two years ago – saying he has done a bad job has nearly doubled, from 15% to 29%.

A handful of Tory MPs are known to have submitted letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership following the revelations surrounding so-called “partygate”.

A total of 54 letters would need to be handed in to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, to trigger a confidence vote.

The survey found that 56% of the public support Tory MPs pressing for a confidence vote, with about a quarter in opposition.

Two in five think a vote is likely to happen – up by five points since the start of the month.

Keiran Pedley, director of politics at Ipsos UK, said: “The data continues to show Boris Johnson’s personal poll ratings weakening, with a majority of Britons now saying he has done a bad job as Prime Minister and a majority supporting the concept of Conservative MPs triggering a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

“What happens next will likely be decided by events, as police investigations draw to a close and other items move up the news agenda.”

– The results are based on online interviews with a representative sample of 2,038 British adults aged 18-75, conducted between February 9 and 10.