Labour Party at 40%. The scale of changing politics: voters turn left as Johnson falls and the ‘party scandal’ deeps

London 14 Jan 2022 – While ‘the party gate’ deeps adding up to a long series of scandals and contested far-right antidemocratic bills, Tory and Johnson lose ground: now Labour gained 11 percentage points distance from the Conservatives.

Latest YouGov intention of vote poll (fieldwork: 12-13 January 2022) has been carried out right while the latest scandal was unfolding and the #ToriesPartiedWhilePeopleDied on Tory and Johnson breach of lockdown rules is on top of trends on Twitter with hundreds of thousands bitter comments and call for Boris Johnson resignations; one of the many Downing Street parties was held at the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. The apologies of the Cabinet Office staff to the Queen are not considered enough by MPs and the public either.

Those benefiting from the shift in intention of vote are not just the Labour (40%), but also the LibDems 11% and Greens at 6%. Scottish National Party is at 5%, while far-right anti-immigration ReformUK is 6%. Conservatives are at 29%.

The poll translates into numbers the widespread sentiment of moral betrayal and angriness toward an establishment the British people can no longer trust. Even the moderate electorate, misled by the always ongoing Tory Brexit propaganda, seems now to have regained control of its own ability to tell true from lies, democracy from elitist autocracy.

Attempts to contain the reputational damage to institutions and the Parliament are ongoing. One of the many enacted over these hours: the latest concession, copied from Scotland’s relax of Covid rules, to make people feel like the bad time of lockdown is over and so downplay the seriousness of PM’s breach of the emergency rules in 2020 -2021. Others are communication strategies aimed at distracting attention and driving information on alleged threats to the country or to the wider public. This, along with the Prince Andrew’s trial, is managing to keep the Prime Minister’s risk of being removed and the subsequent government crisis away from front pages, for some time. But strategies behind the curtains won’t hide the truth.

Meanwhile the MET Police, called into question for refusing to investigate the several parties (or the many parties) held in Downing Street and other government department premises during lockdowns, released this statement: