How much have the Deripaska affair and the Tories’ flimsy response to the economic and financial crises affected George Osborne’s standing within his party? A fair bit, if this survey of party members by ConservativeHome is anything to go by. I quote from their findings:
Osborne currently enjoys the support of David Cameron. But – in the absence of a coherent Tory message on the economy – surveys like this make one wonder whether that will last.“…support for the Shadow Chancellor has also plunged among the Tory grassroots. Our latest survey of over 1,600 rank-and-file members found that 49% were satisfied with Mr Osborne but 47% were dissatisfied; a net positive rating of just 2%. That is a huge shift since last month when George Osborne enjoyed a net positive rating of +70%.”

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