Rishi Sunak falls to bottom of cabinet rankings in Tory faithful survey

Chancellor was third from bottom in survey last month

(AP)

Rishi Sunak has fallen to the bottom of a regular survey charting the popularity of senior cabinet ministers among the Tory faithful.

It follows weeks of criticism of the chancellor’s handling of the cost-of-living crisis, and intense scrutiny over his wife’s tax affairs, after it was revealed by The Independent she was claiming non-dom status.

Alongside Boris Johnson, the chancellor was also fined earlier this month by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room of No 10 during England’s first national lockdown.

Last month, he was third from bottom in the regular ‘Cabinet League Table’ after the spring statement, with a net satisfaction rating of only +7.9 in the survey conducted by the Conservative Home website.

But the new April survey shows Mr Sunak’s popularity among the Tory faithful has dropped even further, with the chancellor now in the red alongside a net satisfaction rating of -5.2.

The prime minister’s own popularity ratings have also fallen as he continues to face calls for his resignation after becoming the first sitting prime minister to be found to have broken the law for his involvement in “partygate” scandal.

He is now third from the bottom of the league table with a +6.6 net satisfaction rating, as the prime minister braces for the possibility of further fines from the Metropolitian Police and a potentially bruising set of local elections results on 5 May.

Last night, it was reported by The Times the long-awaited report into No 10 parties by the Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray was “excoriating” and will “make things incredibly difficult” for Mr Johnson.

“There’s an immense amount of pressure on her – her report could be enough to end him,” an official described the newspaper described as being familiar with with its contents told the newspaper.

However, Ms Gray is not expected to publish her report until Scotland Yard finishes its own probe and determing whether more fixed-penatly notices should be issued.

The survey by Conservative Home also showed the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, maintaining his lead over colleagues for a third consecutive month, with a net satisfaction rating of +85.

Mr Wallace is followed by the foreign secretary Liz Truss, education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, the international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and the Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, has experienced a significant boost in her net satisfaction ratings among party members, from bottom of the table last month to near middle, on +31.

It follows her annoucement of a proposal to send asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Rwanda in a £120 million deal that faced condemnation from religious figures, including the archbiship of Canterbury who suggested it would not stand the scrutiny of God.