Doctors still top the poll as the professionals that the public trust most. An Ipsos MORI survey commissioned by the Royal College of Physicians shows that doctors come out first when the public is asked whom they generally trust to tell the truth. The annual poll indicates that nine in ten adults say they trust doctors to tell the truth.

Ipsos MORI asked almost 2,000 adults in Great Britain to say whether they generally trusted 16 different types of people to tell the truth or not. Ninety per cent of the public said they trusted doctors to tell the truth. Doctors were closely followed by teachers, 86 per cent, professors, 78 per cent, judges, 78 per cent and clergymen, 73% completing the top five.

At the other end of the scale, only about one in five adults trusts government ministers to tell the truth, while journalists and politicians in general shared the lowest ranking with just 18% trusting each of them to tell the truth. 76 per cent did not trust politicians in general to tell the truth, which was the highest score at this category. Civil servants are trusted by 44 per cent.

Doctors have topped the list of most trusted professionals every year since the poll began in 1983 including one year, 1993, when they were joint first with teachers.