TONY BLAIR’S government is “sleazy and incompetent” and on its last legs, much as John Major’s government was in the mid-1990s, according to a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times today.

Ahead of this week’s local elections, the poll shows people think that all three cabinet ministers mired in controversy this weekend — Charles Clarke, John Prescott and Patricia Hewitt — should be sacked. It also shows that the prime minister’s personal rating has slumped to its lowest level since he became Labour leader 12 years ago.

The poll, carried out on Thursday and Friday in the wake of Labour’s “Black Wednesday”, shows that 57% of people think the government is “sleazy and incompetent” and 58% say it is “on its last legs”.

Labour has slipped to 32%, from 35% in the last Sunday Times-YouGov poll in March, although the Tories are also down three points to 35%. The Liberal Democrats are down one at 18%, with other parties being the main beneficiaries, up from 8% to 15%, suggesting a big increase in support for minority parties in Thursday’s town hall elections.

A third of people polled say last week’s revelations make them less likely to vote Labour this week.

Clarke, on the rack over the Home Office’s failure to deport more than 1,000 foreign prisoners on release from jail, should be sacked, say 53% of those polled, with only 21% thinking he should stay. A third of Labour supporters want him sacked.

An overwhelming majority, 89%, says the failure to deport foreign prisoners on release “reflects alarming incompetence”. A big majority, 72%, also think this is true of the government’s overall performance on crime and immigration, which they say has been “generally incompetent”. Only 18% say the record has been good.

Prescott, following lurid revelations of an affair with his civil service diary secretary, is also favoured for the axe; 48% say Blair should sack him, including nearly a quarter of Labour supporters, against 31% who think he should be kept on.

Worse for Prescott than revelations about his private life, however, is his political reputation. Only 9% think he has done a good job as deputy prime minister, 28% think he has been no worse than other ministers, but 52% say he is “a buffoon who should never have made it to high office”.

Three quarters of people regard the behaviour of Prescott, who was relentless in his attacks on the Tories for sexual sleaze ahead of the 1997 election, as sleazy.

Hewitt, who was barracked by delegates at a Royal College of Nursing conference last week, is also condemned by voters; 51% say she should be sacked as health secretary and only 19% that she should be kept on.

The poll also shows that people do not believe government claims about the National Health Service, with 72% saying Hewitt was wrong to claim it had just had its best ever year and only 7% agreeing with her. By more than two to one, 62% to 30%, people believe the NHS is doing badly.

Blair’s personal rating has slumped as the government has become mired in financial and sexual sleaze and a failure to deliver sufficient improvements in public services.

Only 33% of people think he is doing a good job, against 64% who say he is doing badly. This is his worst net rating, minus 31%, and is almost a mirror image of David Cameron, the Tory leader, with 51% saying he is doing well, 31% badly.

Cameron also does better than Gordon Brown, whose ratings have slipped in recent months even though he has managed to avoid being caught up in most of the government’s problems. While 48% say the chancellor is doing a good job, 44% think he is doing badly.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the new Liberal Democrat leader, is struggling to make an impact; 31% say he is doing well and 32% badly, but 37% say they don’t know.

Blair’s problems with the cash for honours scandal remain; 76% think Labour probably gave honours in return for party loans and donations and 53% think Blair has been sleazy on political funding, against 23% who say he has not.

The Tories will take comfort from this but they will be disturbed by their failure to convert Cameron’s personal popularity, particularly among women, into a stronger poll position, in the light of the government’s troubles.

Part of the reason for that may be the perception among voters that all the main parties are as bad as each other. That perception is reflected in this poll by a strong rise in support for the minor parties, but also in specific questions on sleaze. Although 21% say Labour is sleazier than the Tories were, 23% still believe the Tories were worse, and 49% think both parties are about the same.

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