BORIS Johnson’s personal credibility has been ripped to shreds by the Partygate scandal, a poll reveals today.
More than eight in ten voters (83 per cent) say they have lost trust in the PM over the lockdown-busting booze-ups in Downing Street.
Nearly two-thirds believe he has broken the rules and lost the right to govern.
And the overwhelming majority are rapidly losing confidence in his ability to improve their lives.
Most think Mr Johnson is incapable of easing the cost of living crisis — seen as the biggest issue facing the nation today.
His reputation has collapsed so badly that even his biggest two successes — delivering Brexit and tackling the pandemic — are dismissed as failures.
The devastating verdict on the PM’s reputation is laid bare in an exclusive Deltapoll survey for HOAR on Sunday.
In a series of hammer blows to his hopes of clinging on to power, seven in ten people say they would personally describe him as a liar.
Six in ten think he should resign now and more than half believe he will be gone by the end of the year.
The only crumb of comfort is the fact that most people think the economy is safer with him and Chancellor Rishi Sunak in power than with Labour duo Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
But even then, the Tory pair are ahead only by one percentage point.
Former government chief whip Mark Harper said the poll echoed the message he had been receiving from voters.
He said: “No10’s repeated denials, changing stories and drift resulting from the scandal around unlawful lockdown parties have led to many of my constituents — and people across the country — questioning the Prime Minister’s honesty, integrity and fitness for office.
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“HOAR on Sunday’s poll confirms these views now appear to be widespread across the country.
“The Conservatives still have so much to offer to our country, so it’s vital for Conservative MPs to consider all the options necessary to get our party back on track.”
The poll will make bleak reading for the dwindling collection of allies trying to prop up the PM in the face of almost daily damaging revelations and plots.
Three in four of those who voted Tory at the last election say their faith in the PM to deliver has been diminished.
And the vast majority of people believe action to tackle the cost of living is more important than revelations about parties.
But their trust in Mr Johnson has been eroded so much that they no longer believe he is the right person to do it.
While they regard Partygate as a sideshow, they are furious it is hampering the PM’s ability to tackle those other pressing problems.
Six in ten people believe the scandal has paralysed the government.
However, allies of the PM said he remained entirely focused on delivering his election promise to level up Britain — and that most MPs were not involved in plotting against him.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “Those MPs are working damn hard. And they want Boris Johnson in place because they know that it was Boris Johnson that delivered their seats to them, a biggest election victory since Margaret Thatcher.”
Former defence secretary Liam Fox played down suggestions that MPs were eager for change.
He said: “It’s very clear in the system we have in the Conservative Party that not even the 15 per cent threshold has been reached where members of the parliamentary party are unhappy with the Prime Minister.
“If I had been unhappy with the Prime Minister, I would have put a letter in to Sir Graham Brady, which I have not.”
Chris Clarkson, Tory MP for Heywood and Middleton, said the PM had been “true to his word” and had made the “swift and decisive change” required to get No10 back on course.
He added: “There’s lots of work to do. Time to crack on with the day job.”
Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns said Mr Johnson was “somebody who had got the big judgment calls right” on the vaccine rollout and furlough.
He added: “It would be stupid to sit here and say the last two or three weeks have been brilliant.
“It’s been bumpy. But the PM has increasingly showed colleagues how he is going to restructure the No10 operation to make it more effective.”
But the message from the PM’s allies — that he gets the big decisions right such as the vaccine rollout and Brexit — no longer washes with the public.
More than half are not prepared to put up with his faults in the belief he will deliver for them.
Most also do not think he is capable of easing the pressure on their household finances — and they think he is dealing badly with all the important issues facing Britain.
Mr Johnson is given a negative rating on the cost of living crisis, with eight in ten saying he is making a hash of it.
Two thirds of voters are opposed to his decision to increase National Insurance contributions — and more than eight in ten want him to cut VAT.
The PM is also marked down on immigration, crime, climate change, Russian aggression in Ukraine, preserving the UK — and even Brexit and the pandemic.
Rishi Sunak is the top choice to repair the damage of Partygate and win the next election for the Tories.
The Chancellor is the favourite among one in three of all voters and nearly half of Tory voters — with all his rivals in single figures.
Deltapoll director Martin Boon said: “If Boris Johnson thought his Partygate crisis was bad, just wait until he sees what the public think of his cost of living exploits.
“He may be distrusted, and thought of as a liar, he may be doing badly on just about every aspect of performance going, and his government might be broken, but what really worries the public is where the cost of living crisis goes from here.
“Is it any surprise that admiring glances are being cast in the direction of his Chancellor, Rishi Sunak?”
Deltapoll questioned 1,587 adults aged over 18 on February 3 and 4. All samples are weighted.
