Blair’s government picked as best performing of recent PMs, according to poll

Tony Blair was ranked as having performed the best in government out of recent Prime Ministers, according to a recent poll.

The poll, conducted by Deltapoll and commissioned by the Institute for Government, found that one in five (20 percent) voters picked Blair’s government from 1997 to 2007 as having done “the best job of being in government”, closely followed by Boris Johnson’s government from 2019 to 2022, chosen by 15 percent.

Gordon Brown’s Labour government from 2007 to 2010 was picked as the best by only five percent of voters, the same number as those who opted for David Cameron’s coalition government, Cameron’s Conservative majority government and Rishi Sunak.

Among Labour voters, Blair was picked as having done the best job in government by 37 percent, with Brown chosen by eight percent and Boris Johnson by six percent.

Blair was also the top choice among Liberal Democrat voters and was picked as best by 15 percent of Reform supporters.

However, almost one in three (30 percent) of voters in the poll said there was no real difference between any of the governments in recent memory.

This figure was lowest among Labour and Conservative voters (29 percent and 22 percent respectively) and highest among Reform voters (38 percent).

Joe Twyman, director of Deltapoll said: “For me the most important finding is that, even when the list is given and even when you have partisan differences, you still only have one in five people selecting Blair’s government, a smaller number selecting Johnson’s government – and yet nearly a third of people say there is no real difference between any of them, the most popular option.

“When we break that option down, the highest group is within Reform supporters, but they are not alone in that.

“Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative and particularly other parties all have a significant minority within their ranks saying all the governments in recent memory are all the same – from Blair to Truss, there’s no difference.

“As an indication of people’s views of the political process, that is really important and I think that plays into the potential for Labour’s fortunes over the next four years. If they are to deliver on growth and on other aspects, whether it’s immigration, the NHS, or education, part of the challenge is to convince people that government can do good things and be effective.

“The delivery challenge is a substantial one.”

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