Surprise frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader emerges in new poll
It comes after Labour won the July 4 General Election by landslide, with the Tories losing 250 seats. Sunak vowed to stay on as leader of the opposition until his successor is chosen.
A surprise name has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as the leader of the Conservative Party, a new poll suggests.
19 percent of respondents in survey conducted by YouGov for The Times said James Cleverly would make a good or very good Tory leader.
It comes after Labour won the July 4 General Election by landslide, with the Tories losing 250 seats. Sunak vowed to stay on as leader of the opposition until his successor is chosen.
Cleverly has now emerged as one of the favourites to take over, and though 28 per cent said he would be a bad leader, giving him a negative net rating, the shadow home secretary still ranked as the most popular option.
He also polled well with Conservative voters at the General Election, with 39 per cent saying he would be a good leader and 16 per saying he would be a bad one.
Kemi Badenoch is among the favourites to succeed Sunak, and 14 per cent of all voters said she would make a good leader, with 30 per cent of Tory voters saying the same.
Badenoch, the former business secretary, was found to have the same negativity ratings as Cleverly among both the public and Conservative supporters.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has also been touted as a potential successor to Sunak, but just 15 per cent of respondents said she would be a good leader, with 54 per cent saying she would be bad.
She fared better among the Tory voters surveyed, 29 per cent of whom said she would be good, with 40 per cent saying she wouldn't.
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Meanwhile, 14 percent of respondents said Priti Patel, also seen as a leading candidate, would make a good leader, while a whopping 60 per cent said she would be bad.
The Times did not reveal how many people were polled in the survey.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson received a boost on Thursday as a poll of former Tory voters who deserted the party in last week’s election reveal him to be the most popular option to lead the party.
A poll for GB News found that former Tory voters would like either Johnson or his fellow former PM David Cameron to take over from Sunak. The duo were tied in first place, with Reform leader Nigel Farage coming up behind in third.
People Polling asked 2,077 voters who supported the Tories in 2019 but defected last week.
