Tory voters turn on Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary's approval rating crashes

Boris Johnson has seen his approval rating fall dramatically among the general public and Conservative voters following a series of high-profile gaffes and controversial interventions.

This week, the Foreign Secretary was forced to apologise over his handling of the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who faces seeing her prison sentence extended in Iran because of his intervention.

Johnson was accused of “obfuscation and bluster” after failing to clarify comments in which he wrongly said the British-Iranian woman had been in the country training journalists.

YouGov’s latest favourability tracker survey found that Johnson had a net favourability score of -17 among the general public in early September, which has fallen to -29.

Earlier in the year, Johnson was tipped to become the next prime minister, but his net favourability score among Conservative voters has slumped from +35 to +12.

As the polling company points out, it is unlikely that Zaghari-Ratcliffe affair is solely behind Johnson’s slump in popularity.

In September, the Foreign Secretary was condemned after making a joke about “clearing away” dead bodies in war-torn Libya to make way for investment.

Most popular on Yahoo News UK

Major search fails to discover the identity of man found dead in Kent field next to a suitcase and wedding catalogue
‘I’m disgusted with myself’: Man who left angry note on ambulance apologises after neighbour dies
Shocking moment driver abuses paramedic for blocking the street with her ambulance
Australian man dies after falling into wood chipper while clearing trees from a neighbour’s drive
Man who shared image of Muslim ‘ignoring Westminster terror victims’ was Russian troll

The gaffe followed a public argument with the UK’s chief statistician over the Leave campaign’s falsehood about sending £350m a week to the EU.

Johnson has also made a series of interventions, which critics say have undermined his own prime minister, including a 4,000-word article in the Telegraph setting out his Brexit vision.

Most recently, he and Michael Gove sent an “Orwellian” letter to Theresa May that criticised her handling of Brexit.

Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of “embarrassing and undermining our country with his incompetence and colonial throwback views,” and urged him to resign.

In parliament, shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said Johnson should “simply and unequivocally” admit his mistake over Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Johnson went on to apologise for the “distress and suffering” caused by his remarks, 12 days after making them.

He added: “I do apologise, I do apologise and of course I retract any suggestion that she was there in a professional capacity.”

According to YouGov, 28 per cent of the general public have a favourable view of the Foreign Secretary while 57 per cent hold unfavourable ones.

Among 2017 Conservative voters, 52 per cent have a favourable view of Boris while 40 per cent hold unfavourable views.

In September, it was reported that Johnson was favourite to replace May as the next prime minister among Conservative Party members.

The Foreign Secretary was backed by 23 per cent of Tories to succeed the current PM according to a new poll, which was conducted by YouGov for The Times.

At the time it noted that Johnson’s gamble on Brexit, in which he published his vision of Britain’s future outside the European Union just days before a key speech from the Prime Minister on the same topic, paid off.