Outgoing Boris Johnson now tops poll of bad UK prime ministers

As he gets ready to leave office, here is a bit more ignominy for Boris Johnson: he has topped a public poll to pick leaders who are seen as having done a bad job as prime minister.

Pollster Ipsos found in a new survey that Johnson, whose term comes to an end next week, was given a poor performance rating by around 49 per cent of the British public polled.

This is far worse than the what his immediate predecessors netted - Theresa May got 41 per cent and David Cameron got 38 per cent, PTI reported.


Johnson is now on a farewell tour of the UK before he officially leaves office after his successor is named next week. at the end of the Conservative Party leadership election.. That will be either former Chancellor Rishi Sunak or Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, with the latter reportedly standing a better chance

Johnson's political hero, Winston Churchill - who saw Britain through the end of World War II - topped the survey of post-war PMs who had done a good job. He scored 62, and he was ahead 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher who scored 43 per cent.

The same poll of 1100 people also saw the fourth highest number of people saying Johnson did a good job.

For the partygate scandal-hit Johnson, the net score in the Ipsos poll carried out between August 19 and 22, was minus 16.

In comparison, Theresa May got minus 13 and David Cameron got minus 8.

However, there is a catch in this. Ipsos points out that such bad list polls are coloured by what is called 'recency bias' - people tend to go more after those who were in power recently.

So, will negative perceptions about Johnson soften in the future? Will future polls be kinder to him? That'll be an interesting watch.