Keir Starmer has pulled level with Boris Johnson on who would make the best Prime Minister, according to a new poll.
The Ipsos MORI poll found Starmer and Johnson are level-pegging, with 38 per cent of adults backing each of them as the most capable Prime Minister.
It is the first time the pollster has found that a Labour leader is not behind in this key rating in 13 years.
The last time a Tory leader was not ahead on this measure, according to the pollster, was January 2008 when Gordon Brown as Prime Minister was on 37 per cent and David Cameron 33 per cent.
The survey, ahead of Starmer’s make-or-break speech to the Labour conference on Wednesday, comes as Tory Ministers were scrambled into more emergency talks on tackling Britain’s petrol crisis.
Panic buying has led to thousands of petrol stations running dry although Scottish Government deputy First Minister John Swinney has insisted there are enough fuel supplies in Scotland to meet normal demand.
According to the UK-wide poll Labour is also up six points in the Westminster voting intentions, to 36 per cent, compared to August, with the Conservatives down two points to 39 per cent.
However, in a sign of voter disillusionment just 25 per cent said Labour is ready to form the next government and just 32 per cent agreed that the Conservatives deserve to be re-elected.
Against the background of a bitter conference row with the party’s left wing over leadership election rule changes and anti-Semitism Starmer’s satisfaction rating among Labour supporters is far worse than Johnson’s among Tory backers, 40 per cent to 76 per cent.
Among the public as a whole the Prime Minister’s satisfaction ratings are on 39 per cent and Sir Keir to 25 per cent.
The satisfaction rating for the Government was down four points to 35 per cent.
Half of adults say they are dissatisfied with the Labour leader compared to 62 per cent for Jeremy Corbyn in February 2017.
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