Tory sleaze row puts Johnson behind Starmer for first time since January

The row over entrenched sleaze within the Tory party has caused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to leapfrog Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the first time since January.

Voters seem to be blaming Johnson for allowing the sleaze saga to worsen, with his ratings as “best prime minister” dipping four percentage points to 27 per cent.

Starmer’s ratings climbed four percentage points to 29 per cent, research by YouGov has found.

The Conservative Party has become embroiled in a saga over whether its MPs are neglecting their parliamentary duties by spending too much time working second jobs.

Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox has been accused of using his parliamentary office for external legal work which, if true, would break parliamentary rules.

He is estimated to earn nearly £1m from his second job as a lawyer.

An investigation by The Times has unearthed the scale of Tory MPs working second jobs, with several earning more than £100,000 for their work on top of their MP’s salary of around £80,000.

Cox was the highest earner, spending over 1,000 hours a year on his second job.

The scandal seems to have cut through with the public, according to YouGov’s polling.

Concerns about Tory sleaze have jumped to their highest level since the 1990s, causing the Conservatives to lose their lead over Labour.

The two parties are now tied, with each party receiving a 35 per cent share of the vote.

Meanwhile, 60 per cent of voters now agree with the statement “the Conservatives these days give the impression of being very sleazy and disreputable”

Anthony Wells, director of political research at YouGov, said: “This is the worst Conservative score on being seen as sleazy and disreputable since YouGov first asked it in 2006.”