Most Brits want UK PM to go – poll  — Analysis

A snap poll shows that most of those polled by YouGov (an internet-based market research firm and data analytics company) believe UK PM Boris Johnson should be removed from office. The poll was conducted among Britons on April 12th, the same day Johnson was given a penalty for not complying with the social-distancing guidelines his government had issued at the peak Covid-19 pandemic.

YouGov reports that 57 percent of respondents say Johnson should resign as prime minister, while 30 percent say he should stay in the position, and 13 percent say they don’t know whether or not Johnson should step down. 

According to separate YouGov surveys, 47% said Johnson should quit, while 16% said he should remain as head of government, even though he was the first sitting leader of government in history. 25 percent of voters support Johnson’s Conservative party and want him to resign. This is up from just 17% in March. 

Tuesday’s poll also asked respondents whether Johnson “knowingly”Faced with reports of him being implicated in the Partygate scandal he denied knowing that the party he attended had been illegally locked down. A wide margin – 75% – say that they think Johnson “did knowingly lie,” with a majority of fellow Conservatives – 55% – holding this view. 

Meanwhile, just 12% of respondents say they believe Johnson’s assertion that he wasn’t aware he was breaking the law, whereas fewer than one in four Conservatives say they believe him.

Johnson confessed to Johnson in January that he had been to a May 2020 garden party. Lockdown regulations at the time made it unlawful for individuals to meet more people than one outside of their homes. This cut off millions from personal contact and prohibited visits to patients dying in hospital. During their investigation of 12 similar gatherings, the Metropolitan Police has imposed more than 50 penalties.  

Some fellow Conservatives who called for Johnson’s resignation when the Partygate scandal reached a fever pitch back in January now take the opposite view, citing the Ukrainian conflict as sufficient reason for Johnson to remain in power. Douglas Ross, a Scottish Conservative leader, believes Johnson should be removed. “would destabilize the UK Government when we need to be united in the face of Russian aggression and the murdering of innocent Ukrainians.”

News of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to Kiev this past weekend for a one-on-one meeting and photo-op with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came just one day before news of his fine for flouting his own government’s lockdown rules, along with his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.