Penny Mordaunt is the favoured leadership candidate among Conservative party members, a poll has found
The MP for Portsmouth North won 27 per cent in a snap survey of 879 members, which was conducted overnight following the confirmation of the ballot on Tuesday.
Mordaunt will need to get into the last two of the contest in order to face the vote of the party which is expected to get underway next week.
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It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he will officially resign to the Queen on September 6, the day after the Tory party leadership contest results are announced.
The YouGov poll was bad news for the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak who only managed to get 13 per cent, while Kemi Badenoch finished in second with 15 per cent.
Current Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has the backing of Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, also achieved 13 per cent in the survey.
Tom Tugendhat got 8 per cent, Suella Braverman was on 5 per cent, Jeremy Hunt on 4 per cent and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi achieved just one per cent.
Sunak is the favourite to make it into the last two in the contest but it is bad news for him if he's up against Mordaunt.
Members were asked to choose between the two with the question being: 'Imagine that the following were the final two candidates to replace Boris Johnson as leader. Who would you most like to see as the next Leader of the Conservative Party?.
67 per cent of those asked said they'd pick Mordaunt, while 28 per cent chose Sunak with six per cent saying 'Don't know'.
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