Liz Truss has opened up a commanding 24 point lead over Rishi Sunak among Tory members, with 62 per cent giving their backing to the Foreign Secretary, according to a new poll.
The YouGov poll underlines the scale of the challenge faced by Mr Sunak, with just 40 per cent of members saying they could trust him - compared with 62 per cent for Ms Truss.
A total of 730 Conservative party members participated in the poll and were asked their preferred candidate between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak.
The survey revealed that Kemi Badenoch was the most popular candidate in the race as a whole, with 24 per cent of support. Penny Mordaunt took second place on 20 per cent, with Ms Truss in third on 13 per cent.
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak are setting out their stalls to win over the Tory party membership after successfully making the final ballot to become the next prime minister.
In an interview with Radio 4’s Today on Thursday morning, the Foreign Secretary was grilled about her decision to back Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
“I was wrong and I am prepared to admit I was wrong,” she said.
And she denied modelling herself on Margaret Thatcher, insisting “I am my own person”.
But ex-chancellor Mr Sunak insisted he was a “Thatcherite” as he sought to address the concerns of Tory members that he backed a high-tax, large state approach.
