To Downing Street, where it appears the new Prime Minister isn’t having the most pleasant of premierships. Sir Keir Starmer has been in the top job for less than two months – and yet he’s already facing a cronyism row that doesn’t appear to be disappearing. Despite the resignation of Labour donor Ian Corfield from a senior civil service role in the Treasury it appears that, amid all the scrutiny, public goodwill towards the PM is waning. Starmer’s personal approval rating has bombed to record lows while approval for his government is worse than that of previous administrations at the same point. Talk about buyer’s remorse, eh?
Pollsters More In Common revealed this week that Sir Keir’s approval rating has plummeted by 27 points, falling from a post-election peak of +11 to a rather dismal -16. More than that, almost two-thirds of Brits believe the new Labour government is more ‘interested in helping themselves and their allies’ than the general public – while a majority of those surveyed consider Labour to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘very corrupt’. Amidst the ‘cash for jobs’ row, over 40 per cent of people think that both Starmer’s army and Rishi Sunak’s Tory lot are ‘equally likely to make corrupt decisions or give senior roles to their friends and allies’. Meanwhile YouGov has revealed that Starmer’s army has a ‘much lower‘ approval rating compared to previous governments at the same time in power. The survey, carried out across 24-26 August, shows that little more than a fifth of Britons currently approve of the Labour lot, with over half objecting to the lefty bunch. It’s hardly the best start…
The polling will no doubt make uncomfortable reading for Sir Keir's Starmtroopers – much like the coverage of some rather controversial civil service appointments of late. Starmer has been accused of 'arrogantly attacking' his critics over the ongoing cronyism scandal, so will the PM change tack now it seems the public are pretty unimpressed by the whole palaver too? Watch this space...
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