Johnson’s reputation was tainted by his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. | Andy Rain/EFE via EPA
“A lot of Conservatives have finally woken up to the fact that he’s as much a liability as he is an asset,” said Bale, citing Partygate’s unpopularity. “He doesn’t, at the moment, appear to many people to be the solution to the problem.”
Pollster Joe Twyman highlighted how Johnson divided Tory members even as his legacy “cast a shadow” over the party.
“The Conservatives have with Boris Johnson what I would describe as a ‘Life of Brian’ problem,” the Deltapoll co-founder said, referring to the famous Monty Python film.
“There is a proportion of its supporters, particularly its members, and also some of its MPs, who believe that Boris Johnson is the messiah, and there’s another group of, particularly MPs and, to a lesser extent, supporters and members who believe he’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.”
Not everyone is sold on Johnson’s actual policy record, either. His premiership saw net migration surge from 254,000 in 2021 to 634,000 in 2022 — a move critics on the right are dubbing the “Boriswave.” Tory frontbencher Priti Patel’s recent attempts to defend her party’s approach to border control under Johnson didn’t go down well.
“The perception is that we didn’t control immigration,” Goodwill admitted. “The challenge is to ensure that we are training enough people to do the jobs that people need skills to do.”