In last month’s Cabinet League Table, only five Ministers scored above 30 points, eight were in negative ratings (one below our recent record of nine), 22 came in below 20 points (that’s over half the total) and 11 below 10 points (i.e. roughly a third).
This month, those totals are six, eight, 20 and 12. So not much change there. Rishi Sunak and Grant Shapps are out of negative ratings: Gillian Keegan, in the wake of the RAAC controversy, and Mark Harper are in. The top three are all up slightly, with Kemi Badenoch top of the table for a second month.
Three months ago, Rishi Sunak was in negative ratings. Two months ago, he was up at mid-table, albeit on a lowly 21 points. Last month, he was back in the red again. This month, he’s up to 26 points, nothing much to shout about – but climbs nonetheless to eighth, a reflection as much on his colleagues’ low scores as on his own improvement.
His recalibration of the Government’s Net Zero, and much more activity as the Conservative Party Conference approaches, will have driven this recovery. All the same, these are paltry scores almost all round, and in no way a springboard for the Manchester conference. We had 697 responses.