Cameron’s rating hits low after bruising fortnight

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron’s approval rating has tumbled to its lowest level since he was elected two years ago, according to a poll, after two weeks in which policy gaffes and a funding scandal battered his Conservative Party.

Only 30% of voters thought Cameron would make the best prime minister out of the leaders of Britain’s three main political parties, the Yougov poll for The Sun newspaper conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday showed.

The figure is the lowest since the May 2010 general election that brought Cameron into power as head of a coalition government with the smaller Liberal Democrat party.

Many have billed the last two weeks as the most damaging for Cameron, after a key fundraiser was secretly taped offering access to the prime minister for cash, and many in the media interpreted lastmonth’s annual budget as imposing a “Granny Tax” on pensioners to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

Mixed messages on how to handle a fuel strike triggered panic and an embarrassing retraction of advice telling drivers to store petrol at home, while a tax on hot food – including on a snack said to be favoured by the working class – reinforced accusations that upper class Cameron and his posh inner circle are out of touch with the poor.

Compounding Cameron’s problems is a new row this week over plans to boost the state’s digital surveillance powers and to hold some trials in secret for national security reasons. The proposals have drawn criticism from members of his own party, the Liberal Democrats and civil liberty groups.

Cameron can draw some comfort from the fact that opposition Labour party leader Ed Miliband has failed to capitalise on the turbulence, with the number of people who think he would make the best prime minister rising only one point in the last two weeks to 19%.