Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, came out on top in a significant survey of Tory members asking who should succeed Boris Johnson as party leader.
In the survey conducted by the prestigious ConservativeHome website, the Cabinet minister narrowly edged out his predecessor, Penny Mordaunt, for the top spot.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, was the third-choice Tory candidate to succeed the prime minister.
However, following the crisis surrounding his family’s finances and tax affairs, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who for a while was seen to be Mr. Johnson’s most likely successor, has drastically lost support from the conservative grassroots.
The survey results will be closely watched by those looking to unseat the prime minister because Mr. Johnson is still under fire for Partygate and is also dealing with another Conservative sleaze controversy.
More over 15% of the 755 people who responded to the study supported Mr. Wallace, who is leading Britain’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the Defence Secretary having been a victim of a prank call by Russian imposters in the early weeks of the conflict, his popularity has substantially improved since Vladimir Putin unleashed his savage assault on Russia’s neighbour.
Mr. Wallace wasn’t even mentioned by respondents when ConservativeHome last asked Conservative members who they preferred as the party’s next leader in December of last year.
When asked how satisfied they were with the performance of Cabinet ministers, Mr. Wallace also came out on top in a second monthly ConservativeHome poll of Tories.
His net satisfaction rating was over 85%, while Mr. Johnson’s was -21%, keeping him at the bottom of the list for the second month in a row.
Ms. Mordaunt, who succeeded Mr. Wallace at the Ministry of Defense and is currently a minister of commerce, came in second among Tory members as a potential future leader.
The Royal Navy reserve officer raised eyebrows with her less-than-enthusiastic backing for the PM when Mr. Johnson was subject to a vote of no confidence in his leadership last month.
Ahead of the key vote on Mr. Johnson’s future, she was reportedly placed on “resignation watch” by Downing Street.
Just one point separated Ms. Mordaunt from Ms. Truss; the Foreign Secretary, who had previously topped the poll in December, is now rated third.
Her decline, meanwhile, was not as abrupt as Mr. Sunak’s after the Chancellor lost the backing of 20% of members six months ago and now only has slightly more than 6% of them.
Between the two surveys, Mr. Sunak witnessed a significant controversy around the revelation that his multimillion heiress wife, Akshata Murthy, was exempt from domestic taxation.
In connection with the police investigation into Partygate, the Chancellor was also fined in addition to Mr. Johnson.
Additionally, he has endured years of criticism for not doing enough to support British citizens who are struggling due to the cost of living crisis.
The fourth-most popular Conservative MP, Tom Tugendhat, is the chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee and has not ruled out running for leadership in the future.
He beat out prominent Tories Jeremy Hunt, a former health secretary, and Steve Baker, a former Brexit minister, as well as Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary.
Those MPs seeking to remove Mr. Johnson from Number 10 should depose Mr. Zahawi, who is seen as a potential “unity candidate” to succeed him.