A devastating new YouGov poll has found that a large majority of Britons would describe Keir Starmer’s government as “sleazy”, in damning contrast to the PM’s pledge to ‘clean up’ politics.

After the Lord Alli row, freebies row and Sue Gray sacking, a whopping 38% told the top pollster that while they expected Labour to behave well, they have since performed “worse than expected”.

These are on top of the 25% who expected Labour to behave badly, and whose expectations have been met.

Just 15% told the pollster that they both expected Labour to behave well, and consider them to have done so since July 5th.

Disappointment in the conduct of the new government is largely uniform across all major parties’ voters, with over four in 10 of Tory, Labour and LibDem backers saying Sir Keir’s leadership over the past three months has been disappointing.

Overall 59% of the public described Labour as “sleazy”, with one in three going so far as to brand them “very sleazy”.

While this compares favourably to the last Tory-led parliament, who were branded sleazy by 77% of those polled, it’s a blow to Keir Starmer’s reputation after he pledged to clean up politics.

In May 2021, Sir Keir promised to “clean up our politics” after a series of lobbying and cronyism rows under Boris Johnson.

In January this year he repeated a pledge to restore standards in public life with “a total crackdown on cronyism”.

He warned: “Trust in politics is now so low, so degraded, that nobody believes anyone can make a difference any more.”

“After the sex scandals, the expenses scandals, the waste scandals, the contracts for friends – even in a crisis like the pandemic – people think we’re all just in it for ourselves.”

“To change Britain, we must change ourselves – we need to clean up politics. No more VIP fast lanes, no more kickbacks for colleagues, no more revolving doors between government and the companies they regulate.

“I will restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism.”

Three in ten Labour voters now see the new government as sleazy, with voters issuing a damning comparison to Sir Keir’s predecessor.

35% of those asked say this current government is more sleazy than Rishi Sunak’s administration, compared to 23% who say they are about the same and 28% who say it is less sleazy.

However Sir Keir still compares favourably to Boris Johnson’s time in office, with 45% of voters branding the current administration less sleazy.

While Rishi Sunak comes out on top in the poll, when asked to rank what scandals are acceptable and unacceptable voters suggested that the election betting scandal was the most grievous of all – even beating parties during lockdown.

93% said using confidential information to place bets is unacceptable, with 89% saying party gate was unacceptable.

88% used the description over awarding government contracts to party donors, and 84% for giving peerages or honours to party donors.

By contrast 76% oppose politicians receiving gifts such as clothes from party donors, and 59% oppose Sir Keir staying at the penthouse of Lord Alli.