Keir Starmer most popular opposition leader since Tony Blair, new poll finds
Keir Starmer is still losing out to Boris Johnson on who the public believes would be the most capable Prime Minister
2 min read
Keir Starmer has the highest ratings of any opposition leader since Tony Blair, a new poll has found.
Despite only taking over as leader from Jeremy Corbyn in April, Sir Keir has achieved a net satisfaction of +31%, according to Ipsos MORI.
That puts him level with Tony Blair who achieved the same result in December 1994 before leading his party to a landslide victory less than three years later.
And it puts him significantly ahead of other recent leaders, including David Cameron who achieved a rating of +23% during his time in opposition, while former Labour leader Ed Miliband achieved a rating of just +19%.
But Sir Keir is still trailling behind Boris Johnson in who the public believe would be the "most capable Prime Minister", by 43% to 38%.
Meanwhile, the latest figures from the pollster show Sir Keir's popularity has come alongside an increase in support for his party since March, with Labour up eight points to 38%.
The Conservatives are still the most popular party with 43% of voters supporting them, but that is down 9% over the same period.
The Liberal Democrats have remained on a similar level, rising just one point to 10%.
Responding to the findings, Ipsos MORI's Gideon Skinner, said: "Labour will of course be encouraged that Keir Starmer is achieving comparable leader satisfaction ratings to Tony Blair and David Cameron when they led the opposition, as both went on to become general election winners.
"However this is still very early days – it’s not unusual to see a honeymoon period for a new leader.
"And there is an important difference – Boris Johnson is still more popular than John Major and Gordon Brown were when Blair and Cameron achieved their best scores."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
