Approval rising despite "the return of Tory sleaze"

Approval of the UK government has been interesting to observe throughout the pandemic. The initial wave of positivity at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis was eroded by the persistent mishandling of the situation, punctuated heavily by the Dominic Cummings lockdown infringement debacle. Since the beginning of the country's successful vaccination rollout though, approval among the public has been on the rise, according to regular surveys by YouGov.

The latest figure of 40 percent is the first time in a year that levels of disapproval have been lower (39 percent). Incredibly, this all comes at a time where the government is under heavy fire for a series of scandals and investigations which the Labour leader Keir Starmer labelled as "the return of Tory sleaze" at a recent prime minister's questions. None of it seems to be sticking in the eyes of the public though, with strong election wins and seemingly thriving support doing nothing to endanger Johnson's position.