New poll reveals what people think of the Tory government in one word

With the resignation of yet another prime minister, the Conservative Party at war over who should lead next, and a vast black hole in the public finances to plug, there is one word in particular that voters are using to describe the Tory government.

A poll by People Polling for GB News found that when people were asked what word or phrase first came to mind when they think about the Conservative government, 'shambles' was the most common choice.

Others that emerged included 'useless' and 'incompetent', followed by 'rubbish' and 'chaos'.

Those were just a few, with other words including: 'corrupt', 'liars', 'idiot' 'rich' and even swear words like 'cr*p' and 'sh*t', along with 'inept', 'pathetic' and 'trustworthy'.

The poll surveyed 1,237 British adults over the age of 18.

The research was carried out on Thursday - the same day Liz Truss bowed out as PM after the shortest tenure in UK history.

Her resignation has sparked another Tory leadership race, with many predicting a return of Boris Johnson, with speculation he plans to stand against other key candidates including Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.

Following a tempestuous summer for British politics, many are calling for an early general election, with a YouGov poll suggesting that the majority of Brits think the next prime minister should call one as soon as possible.

The Conservatives will be reluctant for such a move, fearing a wipe-out with Labour surging ahead in the polls.

A poll on Friday put Labour at 53% compared to the Tories' 14% - five points down on 12 October. That's even worse than last week's polls, which put the Tories at 23%.

Today's one-word summary of the Conservative government isn't the first time research has thrown up less than favourable descriptions of the party.

Earlier this month, research by JL Partners showed that the most common word to describe Truss was 'incompetent', with other words including 'useless', 'untrustworthy', 'clueless', 'unreliable' and 'dangerous'.

In April, Boris Johnson fell victim to the same criticism, with a similar poll revealing a raft of negative descriptions, with the word 'liar' standing out as the most common one-word description of the then-prime minister.

Other words including 'incompetent', 'untrustworthy' and 'buffoon'.

Keir Starmer's party may be miles ahead in the polls, but the Labour leader also not yielded some less-than-positive descriptions.

A poll in June revealed that the word that most sprang to mind when it came to Starmer was 'boring', with others including 'bland', 'useless' and 'weak'.

However, other words included: 'competent' and 'honest' - which some commentators are saying is exactly what the British public wants after weeks of chaos in Westminster.

Starmer himself has called for an end to what he describes as a "revolving door of chaos", as he called again for a general election following the dramatic resignation of Truss.

The Labour leader told broadcasters: "The risk is not a general election. The risk is continuing with this chaos."

Asked if he most fears ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak as a potential successor to Truss, he said: "We’ve got to get away from this idea… the sort of revolving door of chaos, and that we just get the next experiment at the top of the Tory party.

"What matters is what happens to this country. And there’s the contrast: more of this chaos or stability under a Labour government."