Boris Johnson tops list of bad UK Prime Ministers, says poll

London: Boris Johnson has topped the list of bad Prime Ministers to hold the office of 10 Downing Street since World War II, according to a poll.

As the end date of Boris’s time as Prime Minister nears, new research by Ipsos in the UK shows Britons are more likely to say he has done a bad job as Prime Minister than any other person. Winston Churchill (62 per cent) and Margaret Thatcher (43 per cent) are first and second amongst the public on being seen as doing a good job as Prime Minister – unchanged from when Ipsos last asked this question in February 2021.

“Boris Johnson is in first place for being seen to have done a bad job (49 per cent), followed by Theresa May (41 per cent), David Cameron (38 per cent) and Tony Blair (35 per cent),” the poll said.

Despite this poor ranking, Boris also ranks 4th among those being seen to have done a good job. Meanwhile, Winston Churchill tops the list of those Prime Ministers the public think has done a good job.

“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 4th on that list but less happy about topping the list for having done a bad job,” said Keiran Pedley, Director of Political Research at Ipsos.

“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. 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,” he added.

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,111 Britons aged 18+. Interviews were conducted online from 19th to 22nd August 2022 Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.

According to Ipsos, all polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error. The poll comes as the election of the next British Prime Minister is due on September 5.

Successive surveys say that UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has consolidated her lead over former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the race to become the British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.