Polls shun Boris' first year as PM

WHEN Boris Johnson became prime minister on July 24 2019, his party was languishing in the polls and had not long suffered one of its worst ever performances at the ballot box, securing just 9% of the vote in elections to the European Parliament.

But almost immediately the Tories' poll share began to rise, from an average of 29% in the week he became PM to the mid30s by the autumn, before hitting the early 40s at the start of the general election campaign.

After winning 45% of votes in Great Britain on election day, Boris Johnson then led his party to even dizzier heights in the polls, until the Tories found themselves averaging as much as 52% in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis.

Then it all changed. From mid-May the polls have tracked downwards, not anywhere close to the lows seen last summer, but enough for the Tories' lead over Labour to drop to as little as four points. Mr Johnson's honeymoon period as prime minister seems well and truly over.

Another way to assess his first year in Downing Street is to look at changes in the PM's approval rating.

The polling organisation YouGov found that 32% of the public thought Boris Johnson was doing well in his early days as prime minister, roughly the same as those who thought he had got off to a bad start (31%). One year on, the numbers are 44% for doing well, 50% for doing badly. The only time that his approval rating soared was during the early days of the lockdown, when the numbers briefly touched 66% for doing well compared with 26% for doing badly.