Has Boris Johnson toughed out the Cummings row? Poll finds Tory advantage over Labour stretching to 10 points after plummeting amid backlash over aide’s coronavirus lockdown ‘breach’
- Tory poll numbers have plunged in the wake of the Dominic Cummings furore
- YouGov survey shows signs that ratings situation might finally have stabilised
- Conservative lead has stretched to 10 points but still lower than before the row
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
There were signs Boris Johnson might have toughed out the Dominic Cummings row today as a poll showed the Tories clawing back ground.
YouGov research put the Conservatives up one point on last week at 45 per cent, when the furore over the maverick No10 chief’s trip to Durham during lockdown was at its height.
Meanwhile, Labour’s support has dipped by three points to 35 per cent. The advantage is still well short of the 15-points Mr Johnson enjoyed before the claims erupted, but will give some relief to Downing Street after a slew of surveys suggested the party was in freefall.
The long-term damage done to the image of the government by the spat over whether Mr Cummings broke lockdown rules remains unclear.
YouGov research put the Conservatives up one point on last week at 45 per cent, when the furore over the maverick No10 chief’s trip to Durham during lockdown was at its height
Mr Johnson’s personal ratings seem to have taken a major hit but he remains more popular than the relatively new Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Asked in the poll for The Times who would make the best PM, 37 per cent said Mr Johnson and 32 per cent Sir Keir.
A survey 11 days earlier found 39 per cent preferred Mr Johnson, and 27 per cent his opponent.
It emerged last weekend that in March, Mr Cummings drove from his London home to his parents’ farm in County Durham with his wife – who had coronavirus symptoms – and his son.
In a public statement, the PM’s chief adviser explained he decided to make the trip because he felt it would be better to self-isolate in a place where he had options for childcare if required, and insisted he had acted ‘reasonably’ and within the law.
He added that he had made a 50-mile round-trip to Barnard Castle with his wife and child 15 days later to test his eyesight before embarking on the longer journey back to London.
Mr Johnson has dismissed calls from Tory MPs and scientists to sack Mr Cummings for undermining the government’s lockdown message.
On Friday, Durham police said it had concluded Mr Cummings might have broken lockdown rules, but it would have been a ‘minor breach’.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab admitted yesterday that he did not know Mr Cummings was self-isolating in Durham, despite being in charge of No10 while Mr Johnson was ill at the time.
Mr Raab said all he knew was that the adviser ‘was out of action because he had come down with coronavirus’.
He added that he ‘was not focused on his movements at all’ and ‘wasn’t aware of them’.
Asked in the poll for The Times who would make the best PM, 37 per cent said Boris Johnson (pictured in Downing Street with a tennis racket yesterday) and 32 per cent Sir Keir Starmer