With confirmation coming from the Cabinet Office late on Wednesday afternoon that Boris Johnson’s messages had been handed over to the inquiry, just a quarter (24%) believed that they shouldn’t.
The Cabinet Office had previously been resistant to handing over some materials to the inquiry, saying some messages were irrelevant.
Four in five (79%) Labour voters say the unredacted WhatsApp messages and diary entries should be given to the inquiry, while less than half (45%) of Conservative voters say they should be. Four in ten (40%) Conservative voters are among those that do not think they should be handed over.
Seven in ten (71%) say it is likely Rishi Sunak would have known at the time if Johnson had broken further lockdown restrictions. Only one in six (16%) say it is not likely Sunak would have known at the time if Boris Johnson had broken further lockdown rules. However, seven in ten (69%) Conservative voters and eight in ten (81%) Labour voters say it is likely he would have known.
The polling also finds that two thirds (65%) of the public, including half (52%) of Conservative voters, say Boris Johnson is dishonest, compared to fewer than half that say the same about Sunak (46%) and Keir Starmer (38%).
Three in five (59%) say Johnson did not believe he was following lockdown restrictions, but broke them anyway, compared to just three in ten (29%) who say he did believe he was following lockdown rules at the time.
And almost half (44%) say Partygate matters just as much now as it did when Johnson was PM, with a quarter (26%) saying it matters more. Just a further quarter (25%), say it now matters less.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “After the delays in the Covid inquiry getting hold of Johnson’s WhatsApps and diary entries, it was confirmed last night that they’d been supplied, unredacted, something that a majority of the public expected to happen. While many seem to have moved on from the pandemic and Partygate, it’s clear that it could still be damaging for the government.”
“Firstly, approaching half say that Partygate matters just as much now as it did when Johnson was PM, with only a quarter saying it matters less, while almost three quarters say Sunak would have known about Johnson’s rulebreaking at the time.
“If perceptions remain negative, or even get worse, it seems difficult for Sunak and the government to pivot away from the controversy without directly throwing Johnson and his allies under the bus.”
