Boris Johnson’s Conservatives Drop Ten Points Behind Labour in Opinion Poll

UXBRIDGE, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to wa
Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
Nathaniel Charles

The Conservative Party has fallen ten points behind the left-wing Labour Party in a new opinion poll amid swirling controversy over the government’s alleged hypocrisy in the application of ‘rules for thee, not for me’ Coronavirus lockdowns.

A voting intention poll conducted by YouGov — a British data analytics firm founded by now-government minister Nadhim Zahawi — on the 11th-12th of January 2022, has reported that the Conservatives are presently the first choice of just 28 per cent of voters, should a general election take place. The result is one of considerable gravity for the Conservatives who have rode high above the opposition Labour Party for years and puts them ten points behind.

Indeed, with the new polling YouGov now reports that this is the largest lead the Labour Party has had over the Conservatives since almost ten years ago, in December 2013.

The poll is, however, only a prediction with just 1,666 participants.

YouGov poll’s results are unsurprising for many as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government have been embroiled in scandal throughout the coronavirus pandemic – particularly around breaking the very lockdown rules that they imposed on the British people in a way that has been characterised as rules for thee, not me.

The latest scandal has been the revelation that Johnson attended a “bring your own booze” lockdown party — with as many as 40 staffers — that broke coronavirus restrictions on the 20th of May 2020.

The Prime Minister publicly apologised in Parliament for attending the event saying, “I want to apologise. … With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside”. The Prime Minister has however resisted calls to resign from members of the opposition, saying that he mistook the party for a work event, and that it was “technically within the rules”.

The leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer critiqued this alibi saying:

“His [Johnson’s] defence … that he didn’t realise he was at a party is so ridiculous that it’s actually offensive to the British public. He’s finally been forced to admit what everyone knew, that when the whole country was locked down he was hosting boozing parties in Downing Street. Is he now going to do the decent thing and resign?”

The Scottish Conservative leader and Conservative MP, Douglas Ross, has also called for Johnson to resign saying that Johnson’s position is “no longer tenable”, and has indicated he is going to write to the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee to express a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister.

Ross also highlighted that Johnson “is the Prime Minister” who “put these rules in place” and so “has to be held to account for his actions”.

Leader of the House and Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has however come out in defence of Johnson and disregarded Ross’ criticism, calling him a political “lightweight”.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also backed the PM tweeting out that she will “stand behind the Prime Minister 100% as he takes our country forward”.

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