Badenoch approval rating passes Farage’s in blow to Reform leader | Politics | News
Kemi Badenoch’s approval rating has surpassed Nigel Farage’s for the first time in more than a year, a poll has suggested. The Conservative leader’s popularity rose slightly last week after he sacked Robert Jenrick, who defected to Reform England.
More in joint polling revealed the Opposition Leader’s net approval rating rose to -11, the highest since December 2024 – just a month after he first became leader. Mr Farage’s approval rating is -13, giving Ms Badenoch a narrow lead over the UK Reform leader. The Conservative leader said in a letter to MPs on Monday that recent departures from the party were “about character, not policy differences or ideology”.
Meanwhile, half of the 2,007 Britons surveyed said Ms Badenoch had handled the defection well by sacking Mr Jenrick in advance, while just 12% thought she had handled the situation poorly.
Just 14% of people said the incident reflected well on Mr Jenrick, while 37% said it reflected badly on him.
Reform The UK is still narrowly winning the “Battle of the Right” in politics.
By a margin of 35% to 29%, Britons say Reform UK represents the “Right” of British politics.
Mr Farage said the “centre-right is united” as he welcomed Andrew Rosundall to Reform UK on Monday.
Mr Rosundall is the second Conservative Party MP to quit in a week, following Mr Jenrick’s departure on Thursday.
He said the Conservative Party’s frontbencher Kemi Badenoch had been persuaded to resign as shadow foreign secretary because of Chagoss’s “failure” to achieve self-determination.
