Members still rate David Davis most highly

David Davis' net satisfaction rate rose slightly in April to 84%.  His net satisfaction rating (those members satisfied minus those dissatisfied) is the same as it was last May when he overtook William Hague in this series.  The Shadow Home Secretary's rating now comfortably exceeds William Hague's 67% rating.

Lord Strathclyde is now level-pegging with Liam Fox for the third placed position.  The Defence Secretary is down 1% to 49% but the Shadow Leader of the Lords is up 7% to 48%.

George Osborne's rating rises for the third consecutive month to 42%.

Theresa May climbs back into positive territory for the first time in three months.

The graph above (click to enlarge) summarises the movement in net satisfaction ratings for some leading members of David Cameron's team.

Related link: Regular readers positive about David Cameron (regular commenters less so)

Comments

[Felicity Mountjoy]

Look out for Francis Maude's rating to rise next month. He deserves credit for the local elections campaign results.

[malcolm]

Does he Felicity? What did he do? I think the person most responsible for our success in the local elections was Mr Anthony Lynton Blair.
Quite suprised that Lord Strathclyde has done so well, I am not aware he has done anything newsworthy recently.

[Alan S]

People rate Tom Strathclyde because he communicates authority in a shadow cabinet that overall lacks gravitas.

[Cllr Iain Lindley]

I still think these ratings reflect the underlying political prejudices of the ConservativeHome panel far more than the actual performance of our shadow cabinet.

[Mark Fulford]

I think the person most responsible for our success in the local elections was Mr Anthony Lynton Blair.

And there was me thinking that it was the outstanding quality of our candidates, Malcolm ;-)

It's notable that Lib Dems went badly down too. I think Conservatives can justifiably claim to have put both Labour and Lib Dems under pressure - and caused the cracks to appear.

[Jaz]

George Osbourne has had alot of media coverage this last month, I'm suprised he's not higher, but he is climbing...

[Jonathan]

He's not climbing because his media coverage is not saying anything any of us want to hear.
Most of the others are not saying anything - let alone the A list most of the shadow cabinet are on the zzzzzz list.

[edmund]

editor you shouuld put the label next to the lines-it's almost impossible to use your key to work out who's who the lines look so similar.

As for councillor lindley's comments- the fact is conservativehome.com's survey has seen a good sample of members in the poll that was checkable-so there's every reason to think it's a reasonably good measurment of membership opinion-which can be wrong of course!

[greg]

The Conservative Party should hope for their own sake that the panel's views of Liam Fox aren't representative. His presence at Defence is the biggest obstacle to Tory victory.

[Editor]

You're right about the chart being unclear Edmund. I'll work on improving it.

[David Cooper]

Theresa May's result is a good example of how a well thought out initiative on her part - the 100 instances of Labour sleaze - can not only catch the public eye but also help in the process of redeeming a past mistake that will otherwise be constantly held against her, namely the "nasty party" comment. Now, what will Francis Maude do to rehabilitate himself next time around?

[Oberon Houston]

David, lets hope others in the cabinet think and do the same. We are getting better at opposition, but the work is coming from a few not the many...

[Charlie Elphicke]

I am pleased to see George Osborne's rating has been rising. This is not before time - George and his team have had Labour on the defensive on most issues this year and handled the Budget quite brilliantly. The proof of the pudding is that we are now ahead on the key "who is best for the economy" opinion poll question.

The rating is not yet as high as it deserves to be, but I am sure that will follow as people reflect on how well he has done.

[TomTom]

The proof of the pudding is that we are now ahead on the key "who is best for the economy" opinion poll question.

Then start finding some policies to counteract the stagflation you may well inherit

[James Maskell]

George Osborne struggled last week against Brown (Thursday). From the looks of it, Brown just swiped him out of the way. Our lack of economic policy is hurting our ability to land blows on Brown's record.

We need a better Shadow Chancellor. He should be on top of his brief and be able to get some blows in, but hes just not doing it.

[Charlie Elphicke]

I have the greatest admiration for James, yet I cannot agree with his comments.

George Osborne does do extremely well against Brown - and I have seen plenty sink embarrassingly before the Brownite onslaught.

Yet for the public it is not about Commons performances. Most people do not see them. It is about getting our case across. This has been done very effectively - just look at how the Budget was sunk in a day and how the responsibility for the pensions crisis is pinned on Brown where it belongs.

It would be a mistake to think this is down to "the media" - it is down to the Conservative Party getting across the reality about what is happening on the money front.

And it is simply not true to say we have no economic policy - stability, the triple lock and the promise of tax cuts over time is an economic policy. The reality is that we have one that a lot of instinctive tax cutters don't like.

I know many reading this will be instinctive tax cutters - as I am - yet all of us know deep down that we will only win on economic competence and gain the public trust when the voters believe we will be responsible in Government. They need to know that the public finances will be in safe hands. So the position that has been taken is difficult for all of us, yet the right one if we've had enough of losing and now want to win.

[James Maskell]

I remember those policies being announced, but what has happened since? Only political anoraks would remember our pledges on economic strategy. The public would have long forgotten it. Our economic strategy is based on pledges to keep spending high, especially in the NHS, and to cut business taxes in an as yet unspecified way. Our argument is that we cannot change things too much because that will lead to instability, but that we mustnt do what Brown is doing. Its a complete contradiction.

Regarding the Budget, Cameron didnt see the trick and did not mention it in the speech. Ming Campbell did and did bring it up.

We need to stop being so anally retentive about economic policy. If we want to lead a revolution then we need the public to know what it will be.