Polling: Margaret Thatcher 'most capable' of Tory leaders In April 1992, shortly before his General Election, some 47 per cent of voters described Sir John Major as a capable leader. Then, in September, came Black Wednesday as Britain crashed out the ERM and interest rates spiked. By February, just 19 per cent of voters considered Sir John to be capable - lower than any rating enjoyed by Thatcher. Then came the wilderness years. In October 1997, as Tony Blair was at the peak of his popularity, just 9 per cent of voters thought William Hague capable. Iain Duncan Smith, four years later, was seen as capable by one in ten. For Michael Howard, ahead of the 2005 general election, it was 18 per cent. Only with David Cameron, in May 2010, did a Tory leader enjoy a revival in public confidence, with 28 per cent regarding him as capable as he entered office. The length of Lady Thatcher's shadow over the Conservative Party was acknowledged by George Osborne today. "Successive Conservative leaders have all faced invidious comparisons that are impossible to live up to - sometimes from the very people who were the most strident critics of her early years as leader," he wrote. Such respect for Thatcher did not equate with popularity, however. In 1983, 62 per cent of voters told Ipsos Mori they regarded her as a "capable leader" and "good in a crisis." At the same time, 54 per cent felt she "talks down to people," and 49 per cent saw her as "out of touch with ordinary people." On leaving office, that figure had risen to 63 per cent. More recent polling suggests the reputation for competence has endured. Asked in 2011 to rate which Prime Ministers were most capable, 36 per cent of respondents said Thatcher, 27 per cent said Blair, 11 per cent said Brown, ten per cent said Cameron and 7 per cent said Major.