Boris Johnson tackling dementia in last-ditch bid to boost his legacy

A poll found the public thinks he has been a worse PM than Margaret Thatcher and everyone who has held the office since.

Boris Johnson has called on volunteers to come forward and join “Babs’ Army” by signing up for clinical trials. Picture: AFP

Britain’s Boris Johnson has sought to boost his legacy by announcing plans for a national mission to tackle dementia as a poll found the public thinks he has been a worse prime minister than Margaret Thatcher and everyone who has held the office since.

In one of his final acts as leader, Mr Johnson’s doubled dementia research funding to £160m ($273m) a year by 2024 and said the new money was in honour of Barbara Windsor. The EastEnders and Carry On actor suffered from the disease in her later years.

Mr Johnson said the new taskforce would speed up research using the approach of the Covid Vaccine Taskforce and called on volunteers to come forward and join “Babs’ Army” by signing up for clinical trials.

The move appeared to be a conscious attempt to remind the public of one of the success stories of his premiership.

A new poll by Opinium suggests that voters regard the coronavirus vaccine scheme as his biggest achievement, with 23 per cent citing that, 11 per cent naming the handling of the pandemic more generally and 10 per cent choosing Brexit.

Mr Johnson’s decision to focus on dementia in his final days mimics David Cameron, who made campaigning on dementia a central plank of his plans for life after Downing Street.

Opinium found that nearly half the public think Mr Johnson has been a bad (13 per cent) or terrible (35 per cent) prime minister, compared with 29 per cent who believe he has been good or great.

The public mark him lower than every other recent prime minister, from Thatcher to Theresa May. He trails the Iron Lady by 24 percentage points, Mr Cameron by 11 points, Ms May by 8, John Major by 7, Gordon Brown by 6 and Tony Blair by 4.

The lockdown parties scandal is judged Johnson’s biggest failure, followed by scandals involving Tory MPs and the failure to tackle the cost of living. The words most used by voters to describe him are “dishonest”, “untrustworthy”, “buffoon” and “incompetent”.

The good news for Mr Johnson is that 40 per cent of voters say he has been a likeable prime minister, only a bit less than the 47 per cent who would disagree. Among those who voted Tory at the last election, seven out of 10 think he has been a likeable PM.

Overall, 61 per cent think he has been different from prime ministers who have come before, while just one in four voters say he has been similar, a view shared by a majority of Labour voters as well as Tories. Opinium polled 2017 people between August 10 and 12.

“Most political careers end in failure, and Johnson’s is no different,” said Chris Curtis, head of political polling at Opinium.

“While voters think there have been some successes, most notably the vaccine rollout and getting Brexit done, the overwhelming consensus is that he has been a bad prime minister.”

The Sunday Times