Boris Johnson tops list of bad British PMs in poll of UK public
- Almost half of those surveyed think the prime minister did a poor job in Downing Street, putting him below predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron
- A third, however, thought Johnson did well, behind 62 per cent for Winston Churchill, 43 per cent for Margaret Thatcher and 36 per cent for Tony Blair
Almost half of the public think Boris Johnson has done a bad job as prime minister, the worst rating of any post-war British leader, a new poll has found.
Asked to rate the performance of British prime ministers since 1945, some 49 per cent of people told pollster Ipsos that Johnson had done a bad job during his time in Downing Street.
The figure was worse than those for both his immediate predecessors. Some 41 per cent of people thought Theresa May had done a bad job, the second highest total, while David Cameron’s 38 per cent was the third highest total.
While Johnson may have had the highest number of people saying he had done a bad job, he also had the fourth-highest number telling Ipsos he had done well.
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Some 33 per cent of the 1,100 people surveyed by Ipsos said he had done a good job in office, behind Tony Blair on 36 per cent, and Margaret Thatcher on 43 per cent.
Johnson’s political hero Winston Churchill came top out of the post-war prime ministers, with 62 per cent saying he had done a good job.
Keiran Pedley, director of political research at Ipsos, said: “Winston Churchill continues to top our list of prime ministers the public think did a good job in office, followed by Margaret Thatcher.”
“Boris Johnson will be reasonably content with finishing fourth on that list but less happy about topping the list for having done a bad job.”
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The prime minister, who is currently on a farewell tour of the country before he leaves office on Tuesday, was also one of the few post-war prime ministers to have more people say he had done a bad job than a good one.
His net rating in the Ipsos poll, which was carried out between August 19 and 22, was -16. David Cameron, on -8, and Theresa May, on -13, were the only others to have a negative net rating.
Pedley added: “However, there is a certain degree of recency bias in who tops the bad job list, with Johnson making up a top three with Theresa May and David Cameron.”
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“Time will tell how Johnson’s legacy is judged, as we see by improved scores for Gordon Brown over time, negative perceptions today may soften in the future.”
The number of people telling Ipsos that Gordon Brown did a good job rose from 24 per cent in February 2021 to 31 per cent in August 2022 while the number saying he did a bad job fell from 37 per cent to 31 per cent.
Other recent prime ministers including David Cameron, Theresa May and John Major also saw their scores improve.
