Keir Starmer comes third in a two horse race

Following a weekend of negative headlines for the government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, any cross-party truce to hold off criticism of the Prime Minister while he recovers is well and truly over. However, one group with whom Boris Johnson remains popular is the general public. In recent weeks, the Conservatives have enjoyed some of their best approval ratings since Johnson entered office.

The election of Keir Starmer as Labour leader was billed as something that could change this. However, so far any Starmer effect has failed to materialise. A YouGov poll asking who out of Boris Johnson or Keir Starmer would make the best Prime Minister puts Johnson in the lead at 46 per cent. Starmer wins 22 per cent of the vote – with a candidate by the name of ‘not sure’ beating him to second place with 28 per cent of the vote.

Is this surprising? Well in the final YouGov poll on this question ahead of the December snap election, the PM was on 41 per cent and Jeremy Corbyn more popular than Starmer on 26 per cent. While