Boris Johnson‘s move to No 10 has drawn attention to his relationship with girlfriend Carrie Symonds – and the issue of whether she would live with him as an unmarried partner in Downing Street.
According to an exclusive Mail on Sunday poll, the public is evenly split about whether it would be right, with 33 per cent in favour and 33 per cent against.
The sentiment is more clear-cut when people are asked how they would feel if they had a daughter in her early 30s – like Ms Symonds – and ‘she told you that she was going to marry Boris Johnson’.
The couple are expected to marry when Mr Johnson’s divorce comes through from wife Marina.
The public is evenly split about whether the unmarried Carrie Symonds should move into No 10 (pictured with Downing Street cat Larry)
Boris Johnson ‘s move to No 10 has drawn attention to his relationship with girlfriend Carrie Symonds
While 16 per cent would be happy, a total of 57 per cent would be sad – a ‘net happiness’ rating of minus 41.
One consolation for Mr Johnson is that ‘a daughter marrying Mr Corbyn’ would cause a net happiness rating of minus 63 for the parent, while Donald Trump would push the figure to minus 69.
It also appears Mr Johnson may be making an error by delaying a General Election until after Brexit.
The new Prime Minister insisted last week that he ‘absolutely’ rules out a General Election before Brexit is delivered – but today’s Mail on Sunday poll suggests that delaying too long could be a fatal gamble.
With Mr Johnson at the helm, the Tories now have a five-point advantage over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
Only 16 per cent of those surveyed would be ‘happy’ if their daughter married Boris Johnson
The exclusive poll also revealed 57 per cent of those surveyed would be sad if their daughter married Mr Johnson
But if Labour ditches Mr Corbyn – as a growing number of the party’s most senior figures are now urging – that flips into a six-point lead for Labour. It doesn’t even matter who he is replaced by: it’s ‘anyone but Corbyn’.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who has been accused of privately ‘war-gaming’ how to engineer a change of leader this autumn, looked crushed during Mr Johnson’s barnstorming Commons debut as Prime Minister – as if he was already dreading the potential mismatch between the leaders during a campaign.
The ten-point surge for the Tories since the last Deltapoll for The Mail on Sunday at the start of the summer has been shaved directly from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which has slumped by the same amount.
Mr Johnson’s unambiguous support for a No-Deal Brexit if Brussels refuses to compromise removes the key tenet of Mr Farage’s political ideology.
It also increases the chance of a pact being formed between Mr Johnson and Mr Farage if an Election is called, something which allies of both men have started to discuss.
Even with a ‘Boris bounce’ of ten percentage points over Mr Corbyn, the voting intention figures are still likely to leave the Tories short of an overall majority if a pact were not formed.
If Labour ditches Mr Corbyn they will hold a six-point lead over Mr Johnson’s Conservatives
The poll also reveals that when voters are confronted with the choice between Mr Johnson and his Chancellor Sajid Javid against the double act of Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell, the Tory duo are preferred by a margin of almost two to one.
And the blitzkrieg of new policies announced by Mr Johnson during his first days in office receive thumping support in the poll. His plan to hire an extra 20,000 police officers by 2022 is backed by 83 per cent, as opposed to just five per cent who disapprove.
Similarly, his calls for full-fibre broadband across the UK, a minimum £5,000 per pupil education spend, and a State-backed insurance scheme to protect families from crippling social care costs are all backed by more than two-thirds.
Mr Johnson’s brutal ‘night of the long knives’, when he sacked 17 Cabinet Ministers to assemble a more pro-Brexit line-up, is also supported by 41 per cent to 26 per cent.
The growing pre-Election atmosphere in Westminster is shared by voters, with 55 per cent thinking that one is likely by the end of the year. Perhaps surprisingly, more than half back the idea of holding an Election within the next few months.
The poll also confirms that three years after the referendum, the public remains completely polarised on Brexit. If another referendum was held tomorrow, Remain would win by 52 per cent to 48 per cent – well within the margin of error.
Deltapoll director Joe Twyman said: ‘We would expect any new Prime Minister to benefit from a bounce in the polls and our survey today shows Boris Johnson has achieved that.
‘In public opinion terms, it is mission accomplished, at least for today – but this is only the very beginning. The question now facing our new Prime Minister and his team is for how long this new level of support can be sustained. As the summer passes, will we see the Conservatives’ lead over the other parties be maintained or perhaps even increased? Or will we see their support drop back to the levels achieved towards the end of Theresa May’s term in office?
‘Over the next few weeks, Boris Johnson may well ask himself what is more difficult: winning a new General Election before you have secured Brexit or securing Brexit without a new General Election?’
- Deltapoll sampled 2,001 people between July 25 and 27.
