There have been three opinion polls carried out since Wednesday, when Conservative MPs were whipped to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former Tory cabinet minister who broke the rules banning paid lobbying. The Conservatives remain ahead in all of them, but only by one percentage point in two, and three points in the other.
This is a further narrowing of the Tory lead that peaked at 12 points in May when vaccine euphoria was at its height, but it is not the dramatic shift that might have been expected after the prime minister made what he in effect admitted was a bad decision. Asking Tory MPs to vote to overturn the independent standards committee verdict against Paterson looked corrupt; reversing that attempt and leaving Paterson feeling he had no choice but to resign his seat looked incompetent. Yet the penalty in the court of public opinion seems so far mild.
This story is from the November 08, 2021 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the November 08, 2021 edition of The Independent.
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