Boris Johnson is spooked by polls showing the Tories are no longer trusted on the economy

28 comments
  1. Good morning. Unless, that is, you work in Downing Street and you went to No 10’s “bring your own booze” lockdown party – in which case you’re probably not having a very good morning.

    That’s because Scotland Yard has started sending new emails to No 10 officials, telling them they have broken Britain’s lockdown laws (again) and are being fined (again).

    Expect much more of this over the coming weeks: the Prime Minister does. He has admitted going to that party and he anticipates another fine.

    In fact, his advisers fear an “avalanche” of fines for the Prime Minister over the next few weeks, with the Met investigating his presence at four other lockdown-busting parties.

    The mood among Tory MPs is darkening, we report today, after Downing Street’s botched attempt to block an inquiry into how the PM misled Parliament.

    He is the first prime minister to be investigated for contempt of the Commons. Only 8 per cent of voters think he has not lied to Parliament. Next month’s local elections look troublesome and there’s even talk of a putsch in May.
    Take such chatter with a pinch of salt, for now – although Mr Johnson is weakened by this week’s shambles, and at the mercy of his backbenchers.

    What really worries Downing Street officials is the cost of living crisis, as Katy Balls explains.

    No 10 is spooked by opinion polling that shows the Tories are no longer trusted on the economy.
    That’s where the next election will be lost or won, whoever is in charge.

  2. This should put to rest those assumptions that Starmer’s lead in the polls is the same as Milliband’s from 2010-2015. Milliband was never ever ahead on the economy, neither did he pull ahead of Cameron on Best PM.

    Starmer’s done both and continues to do both. Being behind on the economy is a sign you’re going to lose the next election.

  3. the fact it has taken so long is crazy to me. Worst thing is that if Labour do get in, they will be blamed for inevitable recession that is coming and it will go back to status quo.

  4. Testament to how good propaganda is here that they were ever “trusted on the economy” despite overseeing a decade of misery

  5. Something people have only realised now they are affected. The Tories have been poor on the economy for years, enough people were managing well enough for them to not notice or be concerned though. Austerity was unnecessary and Brexit saw us shoot ourselves in the head economically, both were a result of the Tories. Those who thought the Tories were doing well on the economy had just not been sucked into their black hole until now.

  6. >No *longer* trusted ?

    The only thing you can ‘trust’ them to do is first and foremost to look after the interests of the already rich.

  7. Unsure that I’ll ever cease to find it disconcerting that Tories were ever trusted on the economy by anyone.

    Goes to show how powerful various stylistic tropes are even in the face of people’s lived experience.

  8. Paywall

    But the Tories have always been frauds when it comes to economics. Their policies never invest in anything and cut everything down to the bone until it doesn’t function and that will inevitably destroy the economy eventually.

  9. Well, when you continually syphon money from the public purse into your mates and donors pockets, at some point, even your supporters will cotton on.

  10. After a decade of fucking the economy the conservatives are finally not trusted to not fuck the economy. That really is quite the commentary on conservative supporters.

  11. He’s got two options:

    * Hold an election now before labour gets any further ahead.

    * Wait another year and hope things improve, but risk labours inevitable 0.5pt/month rise becoming overwhelming.

  12. Rothermere and Murdoch these are the people to blame with there Right Wing propaganda machines working day and night. The Tories do not real have the brains to run a Country just keep themselves happy the Sky TV, Sun,Mail,Times,and Telegraph do the real work.

  13. Plenty of time for some lip service against invading boat people and a new

    Three. Word. Slogan.!

    FTW

  14. The reality is the Tories governance of the country hasn’t worked. They’ve broken the social contract that if you work hard at something then you will live a reasonable life in favour of chasing the approval of their donors, implementing ideological economic liberalism (Brexit was part of this) and increasing arbitrary figures like GDP. They’ve also entirely sold out the young in favour of protecting the old.

    In 2010 David Cameron said in his closing remarks during a ITV election debate that there have been “repeated attempts to try and frighten you about a conservative government and i would say choose hope over fear. We have incredibly exciting and optimistic plans for the future of our country. A great vision where we build a bigger society, where we get our economy moving, where we stop Labour’s job tax that could destroy our economy”. He went on to say “You’ve heard a lot about policy tonight but I think as important as policy is your values. Let me tell you mine. If you work hard I’ll be behind you, if you want to raise a family I will support you, if you’re old and become ill we will always be there for you”. he finished by saying “We need two things. A government with the right values and the understanding that we are all in this together and real change comes when we come together and work together.”

    Who over the last twelve years has felt that the government has delivered their “incredibly exciting and optimistic plans”, that they government have the “right values” or that “we are all in this together”?

    Interestingly their attack on Labour for a “job tax that could destroy our economy” was a rise in National Insurance by 1%. Sunak’s NI rise this year was 1.25%.

  15. Their campaign attacks against Labour are starting to come back and bite them…

    * “Can’t be trusted with the economy”
    * “Reckless overspending”
    * “Tax bombshell”

    Now, if only Kier could stop relentlessly focusing on Partygate and start hounding the Conservatives for all their other failures – while also presenting his alternatives (concisely, rather than in 13,000 word essays!)…

  16. It’s taken a fucking long time for some people to realise the only thing that can spook Bozo is a threat to his own welfare.

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