Every entrant to our Cabinet League Table are up – even those who remain in negative figures. Here are three examples chosen at random. Last month, Steve Barclay was fifth on 50 per cent; this month, he is fifth on 58 per cent. Grant Shapps was more or less in the middle of the table on 34 per cent; now he is more or less in the same place on 42 per cent. Allister Jack was third from bottom at 13 per cent; he remains third from bottom on 20 per cent.
Boris Johnson leaps up the table from fifth from bottom, a mere two per cent in the black, to ninth on 47 per cent. In his case, what goes up must come down and what must come down. This will not the last of his falls and rises.
Michael Gove was in the bottom half of the table at 30 per cent. Now he is just outside the top quarter on 54 per cent. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has been in charge of No Deal preparations and the Northern Ireland protocol.
Matt Hancock was hovering in the relegation zone, fourth from bottom on under one per cent. He is still there but now 17 points clear of the drop. The arrival of a Covid vaccine will have helped him.
And up, up, up shoots soaraway Liz Truss by ten points to stretch her lead over Rishi Sunak at the top of table. The International Trade Minister recently delivered her equalities speech as well as more trade deals, and both will have gone down well with the panel. Our explanation of the rises, at a time when shutdowns are intensifying and morale is pressured, is that the Brexit Trade deal is responsible for most of the rise and the vaccines for the rest of it.