Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage would make best Doncaster pub landlords

The former Mayor of London and now Foreign Secretary would be the politician most trusted to pull pints and lend a sympathetic ear across the bar, according to figures released at the Campaign for Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival, running all this week at Olympia London.

More than one in five (22 per cent) of those surveyed by YouGov on behalf of CAMRA said they’d trust Johnson to run their local pub.

Outgoing UKIP leader Nigel Farage is no stranger to pubs but with 17 per cent trusting him to pull pints, was just pipped to the post by Boris.

The outcome of the Conservative leadership battle was reflected in CAMRA’s findings, with Theresa May coming out ahead of Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove and Stephen Crabb. One in ten Brits would trust the new Prime Minister to serve their pints and packets of crisps.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will no doubt be pleased to hear that he’s also considered more adept at running a pub than recent leadership challengers. The poll found that he was more trusted to run a local than Angela Eagle and Owen Smith. He also beat Labour’s Deputy leader, Tom Watson, and Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.

With the European Referendum still fresh in drinkers’ memories, Corbyn tops the poll among remain voters, while Johnson and Farage would be most trusted to keep a bar by those who voted to leave.

CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine said: “While the poll is a bit of fun, it shows that in many cases running a pub requires a lot of the skills of a good politician.

“You need to be able to listen, to be diplomatic and be able to talk to a huge range of people and understand what they need.

“Pubs are the vital heart of our communities and the people who use them demand a lot of the people who run them - very similar to the demands we make on politicians. It’s not just about running a business, it’s running something which plays a huge part in the lives of the community around them.

“I hope all politicians from all political parties realise the responsibility they have to help support the great British pub trade and also realise what a hard job publicans have to survive.”