British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Tories have regained their 10-point poll lead over Labour, despite the chaotic Kabul evacuation.
Fresh figures from pollsters Redfield & Wilton Strategies found 43 percent of voters surveyed on Monday would back the Conservatives at the next election, with just 33 percent supporting Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party.
This more than doubled the government's lead from just four percent in the same company's poll a week ago.
The results would roughly translate into a comfortable 60-seat majority for the Tories, down from the 80 they won at the 2019 general election, according to the Electoral Calculus website, which also predicted the Liberal Democrats facing a near wipe-out with just seven seats.
Among the other anti-Brexit opposition parties, the Greens had the consolation of a one-point poll rise, although the separatist Scottish National Party dropped two points to just three percent — the same level of support as Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party.
The poll also found that 41 percent of voters thought Johnson made the better PM, compared to 30 percent who thought Starmer would. That was reflected in approval ratings for Johnson's performance on a range of issues from the economy, handling the coronavirus pandemic, international diplomacy, and his general ability to "get things done".
Johnson had an even wider lead in public confidence over Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, hotly tipped as the next Labour leader. More worrying for the PM was that 31 percent thought his Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak would make the best prime minister at this time, compared to 35 percent for himself.
The strong Conservative lead was unexpected after another week of bad press for the government, this time around the chaotic evacuations of Westerners and Afghans who worked for the US-led occupation forces from Kabul.
Labour tried to score political points against government Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab missing a phone call with now-defunct Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar to discuss arrangements for interpreters who collaborated with the British occupiers.
But Starmer may have misread popular opinion and alienated core voters by backing the death sentence for Geronimo the alpaca and the expulsion from his party of left-wing film director Ken Loach.
Social media users expressed their usual disbelief that Starmer's Labour was not "20 points ahead" of Johnson's Tories, as famously predicted by LBC radio host James O'Brien.