- As Henry reported recently, over a third of the panel was either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the Budget.
- As Harry Phibbs wrote yesterday, summarising the findings of previous surveys, half of it doesn’t believe that human activity is driving climate change.
- And between July’s survey and last month, Kwasi Kwarteng fell from seventh in the table (with a 70 plus rating) to ninth (plus 49) to twelfth – (plus 42). The last bit of that period saw the petrol panic buying.
So the main feature of the table is a markdown by the panel of Ministers whose policies don’t convince many of its members. Put simply and crudely, they think that the Government is too left-wing.
- The petrol episode opened up the can of worms that is the energy policy of successive governments: inside it, there is a menacing creepy-crawly called insecurity of supply. As the man carrying the can, Kwarteng is now eighteenth in the table, on plus 33.
- And a substantial proportion of the panel, given its previous takes on climate change, clearly believes that Net Zero is worsening that insecurity. So it is that Alok Sharma, as the Minister responsible for fronting for COP26, takes the blame – falling to the bottom of the table.
- Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is down to twelfth, his lowest place in the table yet…as the recently-promoted Liz Truss celebrates almost a year at its top. French fishing and all that sends Lord Frost up to second – his best performance so far. And Dominic Raab’s rating has doubled as memories of the Afghanistan debacle fade.