Shadow cabinet satisfaction ratings for March

No great movements in the latest rankings of the shadow cabinet, as voted by the grassroots.  William Hague and David Davis continue to trade places as the most rated member of the shadow cabinet with William Hague finishing top this month. Sayeeda Warsi, Andrew Lansley, Patrick McLoughlin and David Willetts all continue to rise up the table.  Francis Maude takes a tumble this month - probably because of his remarks about tax.

Listed below are the shadow cabinet ratings for the last six months with the most recent on the right.  The ratings represent the percentage of Conservative members satisfied minus those dissatisfied.   

1. William Hague +84% | +88% | +87% | +85% | +84% | +87%
2. David Davis +83% | +88% | +88% | +80% | +85% | +83%
3. George Osborne +79% | +85% | +81% | +76% | +70% | +66%
4. Liam Fox +65% | +69% | +71% | +64% | +65% | +64%
5. Chris Grayling +47% | +59% | +58% | +69% | +66% | +62%
6. Alan Duncan +47% | +51% | +55% | +55% | +57% | +57%
7. Michael Gove +53% | +61% | +58% | +52% | +50% | +55%
8. Lord Strathclyde +48% | +54% | +54% | +53% | +49% | +51%
9. Nick Herbert +38% | +41% | +44% | +40% | +44% | +44%
10. Eric Pickles +38% | +41% | +45% | +39% | +39% | +42%
11. Pauline Neville-Jones +25% | +38% | +38% | +30% | +35% | +38%
12. Philip Hammond +36% | +42% | +42% | +38% | +40% | +35%
13. Andrew Lansley +43% | +45% | +46% | +49% | +26% | +32%
14. Caroline Spelman +24% | +30% | +32% | +32% | +31% | +30%
15. Sayeeda Warsi -4% | -2% | +18% | +16% | +19% | +27%
16. Jeremy Hunt +19% | +20% | +21% | +24% | +26% | +26%
17. David Willetts +3% | +7% | +13% | +17% | +20% | +22%
18. Peter Ainsworth +16% | +22% | +23% | +18% | +22% | +20%
19. Oliver Letwin +17% | +23% | +21% | +20% | +21% | +20%
20. Patrick McLoughlin +27% | +28% | +29% | +10% | +14% | +20%
21. Owen Paterson +16% | +17% | +18% | +15% | +15% | +19%
22. Andrew Mitchell +19% | +20% | +19% | +17% | +20% | +18%
23. Cheryl Gillan +10% | +14% | +16% | +13% | +15% | +13%
24. Theresa Villers +9% | +14% | +14% | +11% | +14% | +10%
25. Theresa May +6% | +20% | +15% | +10% | +12% | +10%
26. David Mundell -3% | +3% | +2% | -2% | -1% | -2%
27. Francis Maude -2% | +5% | +4% | +1% | +3% | -9%

Comments

[Tom FD]

I suspect Hague's will be down a little next month (after all, if you can't beat Harriet Harman...). Osborne is facing the serious dilemma of having to solve the problems of a government he opposes. I suspect his position will become easier (and clearer) as 2010 approaches.

[James Maskell]

Editor, any chance of an update regarding "Don't Know" votes?

As ever the problem continues of Shadow Ministers being practically invisible.

[Letters From A Tory]

I'm surprised Michael Gove isn't making more progress as he's been pushing a very impressive agenda recently.

[James Maskell]

Pity Goves agenda doesnt stretch to talking about children in care, a part of his policy brief...

Even Eastenders is talking about children in care. Michael Gove cant just wait till the Children and Young Persons Bill comes before the Commons to make the point.

Brown split up the departments so Balls could have the good bits. Gove doesnt get that choice and should be addressing all parts of his brief. Not one word in Parliament from Gove on children in care.

As has been said here, Gove doesnt talk to others about the issue, so clearly he is already satisfied in his own mind about where policy should be going. Perhaps he'd like to share his ideas with the public?

[Harry Flashman]

And yet Theresa May is on QT again last night - why ?

[Alan S]

Interesting that both Hammond and Osborne are on the slide -- a verdict no doubt on their timidity.

[Woodentop]

Interesting to see the low rating for Theresa Villiers! She really needs to do more to address the appalling problems we have with transport in this country and how little is being done - especially in London where yet again last night hundreds of people were stuck for three hours on the Jubilee Line as the result of a "power failure"!

[Mike Hanlon]

Surprised not to see Grant Shapps on the list. He's been running some excellent campaigns and has done a great job demolishing the government's eco-towns plan in the last few days. Been hearing a lot more from him than, say, Caroline Spelman - any many of the others too.

[Editor]

Grant is not a full member of shadow cabinet Mike although like David Lidington he attends. We could evaluate some of the just outside the SC soon...

And yes, James, will publish the DKs again soon.

[West London Tory]

Always good to have Theresa May on television.

Question Time are probably already overdue to have Charles Kennedy and pious gossipy Piers Morgan on yet again though.

Never forget that the LDs ousted their leader twice after 2005 because, first and foremost, they are worried about a Tory revival.

[IRJMilne]

What have Baroness Warsi and Patrick McLoughlin done to explain their substantial rises in these ratings?

[mike clarke]

Editor,

Are you still basing these figures on the responses from party members? If so, what are the approval ratings if "Conservative Supporters" are taken into account? I would hazard a guess that there are a lot of former party members out there, like me, who are Conservatives in the old fashioned definition of the word but who cannot subscribe to the Blue/Green politics of David Cameron.
As he will be relying on us to continue to vote for Conservative candidates at the next General Election, I think our voice should be heard.

[IRJMilne]

re: comment from Mike Clarke above:

I think that all views are factored into this - otherwise there would be no point in party supporters (non-members) filling in these surveys (speaking as a non-member party supporter/activist).

--

I would like to rescind my query on Patrick McLoughlin, as I observe that he is simply recovering from a 19-point blip. The rise of Baroness Warsi is, however, harder to explain, suddenly rising 8% after rising by 1% over the previous 3 months. I am not aware of any stories, good or bad, involving her in recent weeks.

[Iain]

"The rise of Baroness Warsi is, however, harder to explain, "

Certainly I haven't seen much of Baroness Warsi recently but on the occasions I have I have been impressed with what she has said , for she seemed to have some political street smarts about her and spoke with some passion, so I don't see where she gets her minus rating , on the other hand Cheryl Gillan was a disaster on Any Questions last night and on her performance I wonder how she got into Parliament let alone into the Shadow Cabinet!

[Old Hack]

Disappointed that the April Survey isn't tracking the Front Bench performance in a crucial election month.