Boris Johnson's resignation: a look back

In 2019, the Conservative Party led by Boris Johnson won the the largest conservative majority since 1987. The scale of the party's victory, combined with the fact that Labour had sunk into the party's worst result since 1935left some commenters wondering if the Conservatives ever lose another election.

Yet just four and a half years later, the Conservatives face political annihilation in tomorrow's general election, with Labour enjoying a landslide majority. 19% leading our latest pre-election voting intention poll and with Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats set to make gains at the Conservatives' expense.

THE re-emergence Boris Johnson's announcement on the penultimate day of the campaign is a reminder of how far the Conservative Party's fortunes have fallen since he led them to their landslide victory in December 2019.

As Labour is poised to regain power, the Conservative inquiry into the party's mistakes has already begun. a fewincluding Boris Johnson's followersIt was the decision of remove Johnson from Downing Street in July 2022, which triggered the party's downward spiral, an argument that conveniently downplays the growing poll deficit the Conservatives were already facing by the time Johnson was ousted.

Last week, Redfield and Wilton Strategies asked British voters what they thought in retrospect about Boris Johnson's resignation as prime minister and whether he had a political future.

Generally, 51% of voters believe that the Conservative Party has done the right decision to ask Boris Johnson to resigncompared to only 31% who believe the decision was wrong.

The percentage of voters who think the decision to ask Johnson to resign was the right one has increased since we first request The question asked in October 2022, the day after Liz Truss announced her resignation, increased by 47%. The percentage of voters who thought it was a bad decision fell by 37%.

However, opinion on the decision has remained remarkably consistent. Since we The last question was asked in March 2023 in survey carried out for The mirrorAt the time, 53% of voters thought it was the right decision, compared to 31% who thought it was the wrong decision.

A slim majority of 45% of 2019 Conservative voters believe it was fake for the Conservative Party to ask Boris Johnson to resignagainst 43% who believe that it is the RIGHT decision.

Furthermore, 54% of those intending to vote for Reform UK in the next general election believe it is fake for the Conservative Party to call on Boris Johnson to resign. In contrast, those who remained loyal to the Conservative Party are more likely to view the decision as good (45%) than bad (39%), as are likely voters of all other parties.

33% of voters believe that the country would be in a worst place if Boris Johnson had not been asked to resign. 29% think that the country would be in roughly in the same place, and 26% think that the country would be in a best place if Boris Johnson had not been asked to resign.

This latter result constitutes a radical change from the question posed at the time. first question asked in October 2022 (again, within a week of Truss's resignation), where a small plurality of 39% said the country would be in a better if Boris Johnson had not been asked to resign. At the time, only 21% said this would have been the case. worse place and 30% said it would be about the same.

But that has changed only slightly since we last asked this question in March 2023In this poll, 31% of voters said the country would be in a worse location, 25% said they thought it would be in a better place, and 32% said it would be about the same.

Reform voters in Britain are slightly more likely to think the country would be a better place if Boris Johnson had not been asked to resign than likely Conservative voters, with 42% of this cohort saying they think the UK would be a better place compared to 47% saying they think it would be worse off or about the same.

40% of likely Conservative voters think the country would be better off if Boris Johnson had not been asked to resign, compared to 51% who think he would have been worse off or about the same.

Finally, voters were asked whether they thought Boris Johnson could make a political comeback, whether they wanted him or not. A majority (51%) thinks that Johnson can't make a political comeback, while a third (33%) think it can.

These numbers have not changed significantly since this question was asked. last question asked in June 2023shortly after Boris Johnson resigned as an MP, when we found that 52% of voters thought Boris Johnson can't make a political comeback

Currently, a majority (55%) of potential Conservative voters think Johnson can make a political comeback, compared to 35% who believe he cannot.

By comparison, despite being the group of voters most likely to say Johnson's impeachment was a mistake, reform voters in the UK are slightly more likely to think so. not believe that a political comeback is possible. 44% of these voters think that Johnson can't make a political comeback, and 40% think that it can.