Boris Johnson’s collapsing political fortunes can be measured in many ways. Struggling to contain Covid-19 and the fallout from a series of scandals, the UK prime minister’s public approval ratings have dived to a record low of minus 42 this month, according to pollster YouGov.

His popularity among Conservative activists, according to an influential ConservativeHome survey, has slumped. It puts Johnson on minus 17 per cent, compared with foreign secretary Liz Truss’s plus 82.

But perhaps most ominously for Johnson, his mishandling of scandals from parliamentary sleaze to last year’s Downing Street Christmas parties during lockdown now make him the target of abuse among ordinary voters. “Stand up if you hate Boris,” went the chant at a packed World Darts Championship in London on Monday.