British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives to visit a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination center at a pharmacy in Sidcup, London, Britain, November 12, 2021. (Reuters photo)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party has lost their lead in two opinion surveys following a growing parliamentary standards scandal.

While a poll conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Times newspaper put the Conservatives level with the opposition Labour Party, another survey on Thursday and Friday for the Daily Mail put Labour six points ahead.

This comes after the premier was forced earlier this week to say that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country after he had led efforts to change parliamentary conflict-of-interest rules to protect a colleague threatened with suspension.

Backed by Johnson, Conservative lawmakers narrowly voted to halt a proposed 30-day suspension from parliament of Owen Paterson, a former minister, who had been found guilty by parliament’s standards watchdog of repeatedly lobbying for two firms, which paid him nearly three times his annual salary.

Instead, they pushed through a proposal to delay the suspension and set up a new committee to review his case and the wider system of investigating lawmakers.

According to the YouGov survey for the Times, 60 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement the Conservatives these days give the impression of being very sleazy and disreputable, up from 51 percent in April. Just 33 percent agreed with the same statement for Labour.

Meanwhile, the Savanta ComRes poll for the Daily Mail found Labour now held a six-point lead over the Conservatives, reversing a three-point Conservative lead last week.

The Mail poll found that 60 percent of Conservative voters want an apology from Johnson for recent events, although the prime minister has, so far, refused to apologize.

In spite of criticism for their handling of the pandemic, Johnson’s party, which has been in power since 2010, has largely remained in the lead in opinion polls since the election in 2019.

Johnson’s own approval rating, however, has just dropped to a new low since last week, sitting now at -21, with 30 percent approving and 51 percent disapproving of the job he is doing.