As Sir Keir Starmer’s fortunes go from bad to worse, things only seem to be improving for Nigel Farage. While Reform eye up a possible by-election in Runcorn and Helsby with hopes of getting a sixth MP into parliament, the party will have been given a boost today after new YouGov polling has revealed Farage has received the highest ‘favourable’ score in a poll of Britain’s most senior politicians. How very interesting.
In the latest survey, carried out between 8-10 November, 30 per cent of Brits logged a positive opinion of Nige – the highest ‘favourable’ score of any senior politician on the list. The Reform leader came two points ahead of Keir Starmer – who received a favourable rating of 28 per cent – and had a nine-point lead on new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who was rated positively by just over a fifth of Brits. Badenoch does rank higher than her former Conservative leadership contesters, however, with Priti Patel receiving a favourability rating of 15 per cent, Robert Jenrick on 14 per cent and Mel Stride on a measly 6 per cent. Silver linings…
Of Sir Keir's Cabinet, Angela Rayner comes out top, with just under a quarter of Brits registering a positive opinion of the Deputy Prime Minister. And perhaps surprisingly, given the Budget fallout, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is next, neck-and-neck with Badenoch, while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood all trail behind.
However when the 'unfavourable' scores are taken into account things aren't quite as, er, rosy for Farage – with over 60 per cent of Brits rating the Reform leader negatively. Curiously Lib Dem leader Ed Davey and Green co-leader Carla Denyer fare particularly well on net ratings, both on a relatively positive -7. Yet, despite his overall score of -31, Nige is still beating Conservative MP Priti Patel's -49 and Labour's unpopular PM on -33. It's more bad news for Sir Keir, who last month also suffered the worst approval rating plunge of any new prime minister. Talk about a honeymoon cut short, eh?
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