When British-American comedian John Oliver explained the Makerfield by-election to a befuddled US audience on his Last Week Tonight show, there was a surprise for any Brits watching in the States when David Frost and Laura Trott were named near the top of a list of most popular UK politicians.
Laying out how the constituents of one small northern town were in effect selecting a new prime minister, Oliver detailed how Andy Burnham was the UK’s best-loved politician – doing so via an image of a YouGov poll showing him atop “the most popular politicians and political figures” ahead of Brexit bodger Frost, Nigel Farage, shadow education secretary Trott and Angela Rayner.
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American viewers were probably aware of Farage and may even have known who the former deputy prime minister was. But what would they have made of two deservedly obscure figures, Frost and Trott, supposedly being second and fourth most popular respectively in the UK?
As Rats in a Sack pointed out way back in April 2025, the most likely reason is that YouGov simply asked those surveyed how they felt about a large list of names, and both Frost and Trott share theirs with far better-known and better-respected public figures. The original David Frost was the legendary TV host and journalist who passed away in 2013, while Laura Trott is the maiden name under which cyclist Dame Laura Kenny won the bulk of her Olympic medals, becoming the most successful British female athlete in Olympic history.
British audiences were spared the confusion – the show was not broadcast in the UK by Sky Comedy, as it is normally, because it would have breached UK impartiality rules.
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