Half (47%) of the British public say Boris Johnson’s political career is finished after the House of Commons Privileges Committee found the former Prime Minister in contempt of Parliament, according to a new snap poll from Savanta.
The poll, conducted by Savanta on Thursday after the report’s publication, finds that a third (35%) of those who voted for his party in 2019 and contributed to towards an 80-seat Commons majority, believe that Johnson’s political career is over.
Two in five (40%), however, do not believe his political career is over, and two thirds (66%), believe that he is likely to attempt a return to frontline politics in the future, following his hints to that end this week.
A return may not be popular, though, with a similar proportion to those who believe that he will attempt a comeback, saying that such a return would be unwelcome (62%). Those that would be against a Johnson comeback includes almost half (48%) of 2019 Conservative voters.
The polling also finds that two thirds (66%) agree with the Privileges Committee’s conclusion that he deliberately misled the House of Commons, with just one in five (19%) saying that he did not deliberately mislead the House.
However, just one in five (22%) say that the report’s findings make them feel worse towards Johnson, with a quarter (25%) saying it hasn’t affected how much they already disliked him, and a similar proportion (21%) saying it hasn’t affected their indifference.
A third (34%) say the sanctions recommended by the committee are too lenient, although a quarter (23%) say they’re too harsh. a further third (34%) say they’re about right.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “A damning report and some relatively damning polling. Johnson’s innate reluctance to accept responsibility for his failings has resulted in a former Prime Minister being found unprecedently in contempt of Parliament, and the public seem ready to move on from him entirely.”
“Johnson’s popularity has been low for a while, and although a sense of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ allows his personal ratings to somewhat recover, the public, nor those that gave him an 80-seat majority at the last election, do not want a return to frontline politics from him.”
“The government will hope that today’s report will draw a line under the whole affair but with the Covid inquiry still to come Johnson, and his actions as PM, may continue to damage any attempt at a Conservative recovery.”
