Poll suggests Nigel Farage top pick to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader

A poll has suggested that Reform UK’s Nigel Farage is the most popular option to succeed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservatives if Labour win the General Election.

The poll by Redfield and Wilton, conducted for The Independent, surveyed 2,000 adults on Wednesday and Thursday and showed 19% of people think Mr Farage should take over from Mr Sunak, with 22% of 2019 Conservative voters surveyed agreeing.

The poll offered six other names – Penny Mordaunt (15%), James Cleverly (6%), Kemi Badenoch (5%), Suella Braverman (4%), Priti Patel (2%) and Robert Jenrick (1%).

The largest proportion (48%) of those surveyed said they did not know who should replace Mr Sunak as leader of the Conservatives.

To add to the worrying polls for the Tories, 37% of people surveyed said the Reform UK party should replace the Conservatives as the major opposition to Labour, with 30% disagreeing.

The poll also found that 45% of all voters believe Labour will win the next two elections with just 19% disagreeing.

But the poll said 49% of those surveyed believe the main reason for a Labour victory in the General Election would be because of “Tory failures”.

The poll found 18% of people said Labour policies would lead the party to victory, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership got 14% of the vote.

The result comes after Ms Mordaunt branded the Prime Minister’s decision to leave the D-Day 80th anniversary events early as “completely wrong” during a BBC debate on Friday.

Ms Mordaunt, a Navy reservist, said it was right that Mr Sunak apologised not only to veterans but to the public, although she added the issue should not become “a political football”.

During the seven-way debate, the Commons Leader said: “What happened was completely wrong, and the Prime Minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us.”