Kemi Badenoch has been handed a boost in the race to take over from Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservatives, after a new poll of party members indicated she would beat all five of the other contenders if she reaches the final two.
A YouGov survey published on Friday saw Mrs Badenoch beat James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Dame Priti Patel and Mel Stride in head-to-head votes.
The poll, which spoke to 903 party members between Aug 6 and 15, saw 47 per cent of members say they would back Mrs Badenoch in a contest against Mr Cleverly, who was picked by 38 per cent.
The former business secretary beat Mr Jenrick by 48 per cent to 33 per cent, Mr Tugendhat by 49 per cent to 31 per cent, Dame Priti by 55 per cent to 26 per cent and Mr Stride by 61 per cent to 14 per cent.
Conservative MPs will narrow down the number of candidates to just two in a series of votes in September and October, before the contest goes to a vote among Tory members to decide a winner by November 2.
Asked to pick their favourite candidate, Mrs Badenoch came first with 24 per cent of party members backing her. In second place was Mr Tugendhat, with 16 per cent backing him. Mr Cleverly was in third on 14 per cent, Mr Jenrick was fourth on 12 per cent, Dame Priti was fifth on 11 per cent and Mr Stride was in sixth place on 2 per cent.
However, separate polling published just four days ago put Mr Cleverly in first place.
In the first poll of Conservative Party members since the race began at the end of July, 26 per cent put the shadow home secretary as their first choice. Following behind in second place was Dame Priti, with 20 per cent saying she was their top choice.
The Techne poll, conducted between August 2 and 12, put Mrs Badenoch in third place at 14 per cent support, Mr Tugendhat in fourth with 11 per cent backing and Mr Jenrick in fifth on 10 per cent. In sixth place was Mr Stride, with just four per cent of members listing him as their top choice.
The survey, commissioned by Mr Cleverly’s campaign, spoke to 805 party members.
The polling indicated that he would beat each of his competitors in a head-to-head against the other candidates.