Poll reveals just how few Scots trust Boris Johnson as next PM

It found low levels of confidence in the Tory leadership frontrunner among the general public across Britain but that levels were lowest in Scotland.

The YouGov survey of 1703 people found 64% of voters said they were not confident Johnson would improve Britain’s standing in the world with 43% saying they were “not confident at all”. In Scotland, the figure for those saying there were not confident was 74%.

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The poll was carried out by the anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain and Hope Not Hate on July 4 and 5 ahead of the resignation of Sir Kim Darroch following the leak of diplomatic cables in which the senior diplomat described President Donald Trump’s administration as inept.

Johnson was accused of throwing Darroch “under a bus” and prompting his resignation by failing to say during a televised leadership debate last week whether he would keep the ambassador in his job if he became PM.

The poll also found that nearly half of Tory voters say they are not confident that Johnson would improve Britain’s standing, while the figure for Leave voters who were not confident was 43%.

The poll also reveals that 39% of voters would describe Johnson as a “buffoon”, 31% as “untrustworthy”, 29% “self-serving”, and 26% “irresponsible”. Only 2% viewed Johnson as “statesman-like” or “diplomatic”. It also found most voters didn’t believe Johnson can secure a better deal from Brussels.

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Martin Whitfield, Scottish Labour MP for East Lothian and a Best for Britain supporter (pictured below), said: “Boris Johnson simply can’t be trusted on the international stage. He was the worst Foreign Secretary in living memory and has thrown one of our most senior diplomats under the bus to appease Donald Trump.

“The strength of opposition to Mr Johnson is particularly strong in Scotland, but even Tories and Leave voters don’t trust him on the global stage.

“It is now vital that the public, not Mr Johnson, has the final say on Brexit.”

Best for Britain chief executive Naomi Smith said: “These results show that the country is anti-Boris Johnson. And that’s no surprise – in one fell swoop he made us look like cowards to the US and idiots to Europe.

“It’s disgraceful that a tiny fraction of the population will be forcing this buffoon on the rest of us. This country is in desperate need of a different direction. That’s why, on July 20, I will be marching to say no to Boris the buffoon and yes to Europe.”

Meanwhile, reports over the weekend have claimed that Johnson’s rival for the Tory crown Jeremy Hunt and former leadership contender Sajid Javid have been covertly preparing campaign teams for a second Tory leadership election should a Johnson premiership implode.

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Johnson faces threats from both sides of the Tory party if he becomes PM, with hardline Brexiteers ready to move against him if he U turns on taking the UK out of the EU by October 31, and those opposed to a no-deal set to undermine him if he attempts such a no-deal exit.

Meanwhile, anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller has said a possible future attempt by a Johnson-led Government to “bypass” Parliament to pursue a no-deal Brexit “would be beyond a prime minister’s powers”.

She said a letter from her legal team that went to Johnson last Thursday “was to say that if he became prime minister that we believe that that would be beyond his powers, and also relying on the judgment in my case in 2017 where the Supreme Court expressly said that Parliament could not be bypassed”.

Speaking about the prospect of prorogation of Parliament on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday, hosted by Niall Paterson, she said: “We think that it’s beyond the Prime Minister’s powers because Parliamentary sovereignty is actually the jewel in the constitutional crown and to bypass and to close the doors of Parliament, we feel from the advice and the... case law we’ve looked at, that that would be beyond a prime minister’s powers, it would be an abuse of his powers to close Parliament, to get through or to not get through, to limit the voice of the representatives that we all elect.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said she now accepts the option of a no-deal Brexit has to be part of the “leverage” in negotiations with the EU.

Rudd, who has previously voiced strong objections to leaving without a deal, said she hoped there could be compromise on all sides – including from the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group (ERG) on the issue.