New poll for the Daily Mail has Rishi beating Boris as “Best PM”
And 58% want a change this year
The graphic above is from today’s Daily Mail and has numbers that will seriously worry Downing Street. For as can been seen it suggests that those polled want Rishi Sunak to replace Johnson as PM and for the change to take place if not now then within a year.
I must admit that I have never heard of the pollster, JL Partners, and my first reaction on seeing the details was to find out some more about it. It is run by James Johnson who previously served as the Senior Opinion Research and Strategy Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May. It is is a member of the British Polling Council and has carried out surveys before for the paper.
Just about all the findings that the Mail has chosen to highlight in its graphic are good for Sunak and less good for Johnson.
That the paper should commission such a survey and highlight the outcome in the manner it has indicates a desire that Johnson should go and this looks set to impact on future coverage. There will be other reports like this.
In the past troubled Tory leaders have found that the weeks after the October party conference is the most dangerous for them as we saw with Mrs Thatcher and IDS. I’ve just had a small bet at 8/1 on an exit this year.