Labour Leader Starmer’s Approval Slumps to Socialist Corbyn Levels

BEDFORD, ENGLAND - APRIL 09: Labour Party leader Keir Starmer visits a shopping precinct t
Leon Neal/Getty Images

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has seen his approval ratings plummet to the same level seen by socialist former leader Jeremy Corbyn, with less than a quarter of voters believing Starmer has “what it takes” to make a good Prime Minister.

Only 22 per cent of the public are satisfied with the job done by the leader of the Labour Party and just 24 per cent believe Sir Keir Starmer would be capable of running the country.

The Ipsos MORI poll conducted for the Evening Standard also revealed that less than half of Sir Keir’s own party members (48 per cent) believe he “has what it takes”, compared to 59 per cent for the Labour Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, who is often touted as a possible successor to Starmer.

The poll found that 51 per cent of the public were dissatisfied with the Labour Leader, up five points from April. The 29-point negative spread mirrors the approval rating of his disgraced predecessor Jeremy Corbyn at the same time during his leadership.

Again, the dissatisfaction with Starmer has extended to his own ranks, with 47 per cent of Labour voters saying they did not approve of his leadership compared to just 39 per cent approving.

As well as falling behind the Manchester mayor, Sir Keir is also well behind Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who enjoys a 40 per cent score on capable leadership, compared to Starmer’s 26 per cent.

Unlike Sir Keir, Mr Johnson also has the backing of his own party, with a 78 per cent satisfaction rate among Conservative supporters.

After the disastrous defeat of Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 general election, the Labour Party looked to discard the far-left socialist Corbyn label by turning to a supposedly centrist leader in Starmer.

Despite public proclamations from Sir Keir on the importance of demonstrating patriotism, the Labour leader has consistently sided with the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, which has launched a continuous assault on British history and heritage over the past year.

Sir Keir, who infamously ‘took the knee‘ in his Westminster offices, has doubled down on his courtship of BLM, unveiling a race-inspired plan for Britain on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd last month.

Under his leadership, the Labour Party has also seemingly abandoned its position as the opposition party, notably on the issue of lockdown restrictions, on which they have walked in lockstep with the Conservative government.

In Starmer’s first major electoral test in May’s by-election, Labour suffered stinging defeats again in safe so-called ‘Red Wall’ constituencies, as the party’s support among the working class has dwindled — a process which began in earnest during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The Director of Politics for Ipsos MORI, Keiran Pedley said: “These numbers lay bare just how far Keir Starmer’s poll ratings have fallen. From opening with the best satisfaction ratings for a Leader of the Opposition since Blair last June, his numbers are now as bad as Jeremy Corbyn’s at the same point in his leadership.

“What we don’t know is whether Starmer’s numbers will continue to fall, as they did for Corbyn, or if the Labour leader will manage to rebound all the way to Number 10 in a similar fashion to how David Cameron once did.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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