THERESA MAY’S popularity has plummeted with Tory members, a survey has suggested, while a Cabinet minister compared her government to Sir John Major’s fragile administration.
A survey by the influential ConservativeHome website saw the Prime Minister fall from having the highest net satisfaction rating in the Cabinet to the second lowest, above only party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin.
Meanwhile, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid poked fun at Mrs May by comparing the British political scene now to that of 20 years ago, when Sir John had lost his majority and the Tory party was deeply split over Europe.
There was further bad news for Mrs May as an ICM poll for the Guardian gave Labour a two point lead over the Conservatives.
Labour was on 43%, up five points from the previous poll just before the June 8 election, with the Tories down two on 41%.
The poll also suggested Jeremy Corbyn had a +9 net approval rating, with 44% thinking he was doing a good job and 35% that he was doing a bad job.
Mrs May’s net approval rating was -26, with just 28% thinking she is doing a good job and 54% a bad job.
The ConservativeHome “league table” of Cabinet members survey saw Mrs May dramatically fall from having a +89.1 net approval rating before the election to a -26.1 rating.
Brexit Secretary David Davis came out on top, with a net approval rating of +78.4.
In a speech to the Local Government Association in Birmingham, Mr Javid noted that the organisation was formed in the spring of 1997, joking that the “political scene was very different from today”.
He said: “We had a Conservative Prime Minister leading a minority government and facing big questions over Europe.
“A charismatic, populist leader of the opposition promising the earth to young voters.
“The Liberal Democrats could fit all their MPs in a minibus.
“Plus ca change, as they say.”
Downing Street said Mr Javid’s comments would have been approved by the Prime Minister’s office.
A spokeswoman said: “Number 10 will have seen the speech in the usual way.”
ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative sample of 2044 adults aged 18+ online between June 30 and July 3. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
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