Kemi Badenoch should be replaced as Tory leader by Robert Jenrick, shock polling of party members shows. Asked who they would prefer as Conservative Party leader, 46% said they preferred Mr Jenrick compared with 39% who backed Mrs Badenoch, according to a YouGov/Sky poll of Tory members.
A staggering 50% said Mrs Badenoch shouldn’t lead the Tories into the next election while only 14% of those who took part in the poll expect their party to win a majority. The polling also reveals that 46% would support a merger with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK while 48% oppose it.
Three in five (61%) Conservative members say Mrs Badenoch is doing a good job as leader, according to the poll, which was carried out between September 26 and October 2.
The results from the poll of 652 Tory members came on the second day of the party’s conference in Manchester where shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride outlined a series of bombshell proposals, including the axing of business rates and £47billion in welfare cuts.
Mrs Badenoch beat Mr Jenrick, Shadow Justice Secretary, in last year’s leadership race. She has also rejected a pact with Reform UK.
The Tory leader acknowledged in her welcome speech at the start of the conference on Sunday that the party has a “mountain to climb”, with polling showing it third behind Reform UK and Labour.
She insisted, however, that the Conservatives could win the next election by “combining secure borders with a shared culture”.
Besides pledging to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the Conservatives published a plan on Sunday that included measures aimed at deporting 750,000 people over five years.
Mr Jenrick had put withdrawing from the ECHR at the heart of his unsuccessful leadership campaign. Mrs Badenoch had said the move would not be a “silver bullet” for tackling immigration.
Mrs Badenoch also stressed her party’s commitment to economic responsibility at its conference, saying the Conservatives had “learnt” from former Tory prime minister Liz Truss’s mini-budget.
YouGov/Sky’s poll also shows Mr Farage proves to be a popular but divisive figure among Tory members, with 53% having a favourable opinion of him and 45% who don’t.
In a choice between Mrs Badenoch and Mr Farage, just over a third of Tory members (34%) said they would choose Reform UK’s leader over the Tories’, the polling shows.
