Britons prefer Prince William to the Queen, says poll

Of more than 2,000 people surveyed by ComRes for the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday, 68% expressed a favourable view of the young royal compared with 63% for his grandmother, the Guardian reported.

The Prince of Wales lagged well behind on 43%, but even the heir to the throne enjoyed a better rating than any of the Westminster figures.

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, came closest to a regal score on 41% - with David Cameron pipping Ukip's Nigel Farage by 28% to 26%. Fewer than one in five said they saw the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, in a good light (19%) - fewer than the foreign secretary, William Hague (25%), and on a par with the chancellor, George Osborne.

After their recent spat, Theresa May retains more public favour than Michael Gove (16% to 9%), with the education secretary also attracting many more dislikes. May is significantly better liked by Tory supporters.

Reflecting his party's woeful poll showings, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is admired by only 13%. The poll showed a narrowing of Labour's lead over the Tories to 34% against 32% - the smallest gap for almost two and a half years in ComRes online research. Ukip and the Lib Dems shed a point each to stand at 18% and 7% respectively.

Religious freedom was named by only 12% of voters as one of the most important "British values" - after Gove pledged they would be promoted in the classroom in the wake of the "Trojan horse" controversy. The most popular value was freedom of speech (48%) followed by respect for the rule of law (34%), fairness (27%), tolerance (27%), a sense of humour (26%), equality (24%), politeness (22%), political freedom (20%) and responsibility (14%).

Aspiration - often cited by political leaders as a fundamental British value - was picked by 3%. ComRes interviewed 2,034 British adults online from 11 to 13 June.