Rishi Sunak’s net ratings among Conservative Party members reached its lowest point ever, according to a new survey.
In ConservativeHome’s monthly league table assessing the popularity of each cabinet member, the prime minister secured a sorry second-to-last place – a personal low for him.
The survey of 750 party members allows members of the cabinet to score up to 100 points. This month, Sunak has a net satisfaction rate of minus 26.5.
This meant he broke his own record of minus 25.4, which he reached just last month.
But, Sunak was saved from bottom place in December’s ratings by Michael Tomlinson, the minister for countering illegal migration, who has only been in the role since December 7.
Still, it’s been a steep decline for the PM. In October, he was ninth from the bottom with an approval rating of plus 7.1.
For comparison, Boris Johnson secured first place in the table with a score of plus 91 just after the last general election (a time when Sunak had a score of plus 69.8).
Sunak’s chancellor Jeremy Hunt was just one place above him in the league table, with a minus 16.9 satisfaction rating from Tory members, closely followed by a minus 15.1 score for levelling up secretary Michael Gove.
David Cameron, who was quickly elevated to the Lords in November so he could serve as foreign secretary, also had a less than impressive rating of minus 5.3.
In fact, the cabinet broke another record for ConservativeHome as only 17 members scored more than 10 – a drop just from November, when 23 managed to get above 10.
Just one cabinet member secured more than 50 points – Kemi Badenoch, who sat at the top of the league with a score of plus 64.
But, while these stats may be a personal low for Sunak, Theresa May takes the title as the most unpopular Tory minister ever, according to this league table (she scored minus 73.5 in April 2019).
The league table comes after an eventful few weeks in Downing Street, where the PM U-turned over an immigration crackdown, he failed to meet four of his five pledges for 2023, and he faced down Tory rebellion over his flagship Rwanda deportation bill.
The Tories are trailing Labour in the polls too, even though the government are expected to announce a snap general election for May.