Rishi’s popularity with Tory activists slumps amid cost-of-living crisis

Rishi Sunak‘s popularity with Tory grassroots appears to have taken an alarming dive in the wake of his mini-Budget.

The latest ratings for the ConservativeHome website show the Chancellor slumping from eleventh to third from bottom. 

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, his score on the monthly survey of readers was just 7.9, compared to 38.8 previously. 

At one point he was top of the regular chart – a position now held by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who has earned plaudits for the Ukraine response.

Although the poll is not scientific it is closely watched by ministers and MPs, and will set alarm bells ringing in No11.

Priti Patel is the only senior figure in negative territory, with a rating of minus 13.6 after anger at the Channel migrant situation and slow progress on Ukraine refugee visas.

Boris Johnson has seen his position improve slightly, rising to a score of 33 despite anxiously waiting to hear whether he has been fined over Partygate.     

Mr Sunak has been scrambling to defuse a furious backlash for failing to do enough to help struggling families.

He was accused of being an ‘illusionist’ after hailing his ‘tax-cutting’ Spring Statement, despite the burden being on course to reach the highest level since the 1940s. 

The government’s own watchdog has predicted that this year will see the biggest fall in disposable incomes since records began in the 1950s. 

There are claims Mr Sunak is already having to draw up a new support package, as he struggles to keep a lid on the UK’s £2.3trillion debt mountain and rising interest payments. 

He was also ridiculed for photo-ops after the mini-Budget, including posing putting fuel into a Kia Rio owned by a Sainsbury’s staff member.