Oh dear. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is no stranger to poor poll outcomes – but a new survey may cut a little closer to the bone. Over 500 GB News loyalists were quizzed on their political attitudes in the lead up to the next general election and the results are now in. Amongst the channel’s devotees, the most popular party of the moment — with a rather comfortable lead – is, um, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot. How times change…

In a weird twist of fate, Starmer Chameleon’s party outflanked the Tories by eleven points after the ‘don’t knows’ were excluded. Almost four in ten viewers backed the reds, while Sunak’s boys in blue garnered support from less than a third of viewers. When pollsters JL Partners broke down the data, ‘current’ viewers were a little more favourable towards the Tories than those counted as ‘recent’ spectators, narrowing the gap between the parties to two percentage points — though Labour still came out on top. The airwave aficionados also recorded their dissatisfaction with the government’s record on the NHS, crime and — despite the successful passage of the Rwanda bill through parliament — immigration.

Of course, it would be remiss of Mr S not to mention that a rather large proportion of the channel’s stars happen to also work as, um, Tory MPs. From Jacob Rees-Mogg to Esther McVey, the presenter-politician hybrids might have hoped their commitment to the viewers would have helped their party’s fortunes – but it wasn’t to be.

Reform UK, led by Richard Tice – who by chance also happens to be a presenter on the channel – came a close third place, with a striking 20 per cent of viewers supporting the Nigel Farage-founded party. And speaking of Farage, the man himself fared rather well in the viewer-led poll. In a vote of confidence for the channel’s star presenter, avid watchers of its programmes ranked Farage as their top choice for political leader – above both Starmer and Sunak. Maybe they should take tips…