Poll boost for Tory leader
The Tory Party has leapfrogged the Blair administration in the popularity stakes, according to a new opinion poll.
The YouGov survey for The Mail on Sunday put the Conservatives on 38 per cent, five points higher than Labour on 33.
Despite the future of Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith hanging in the balance, his approval rating surged to 31 per cent from 22 per cent a week ago.
Duncan Smith will welcome the poll findings. Voters thought the party would do worse under Kenneth Clarke, Michael Howard, Michael Portillo, Oliver Letwin or David Davis.
And the PM’s rating slipped to 37 per cent from 40 per cent during the same period.
YouGov interviewed 2,205 people on Friday and Saturday.
However, the new survey may not be enough in itself to ward off a leadership challenge next week.
It is now thought that more than 25 Tory MPs will sign a vote of no confidence in the Tory leadership.
The party’s chief whip David Maclean has warned Tory “malcontents” to the tow the party line or face a “career development interview” and a briefing of their disloyalty to their constituency chairman.
Local constituency parties decide whether or not MPs will represent the locality at the next election.
The band of “plotters” is reported to include John Maples, Francis Maude, Andrew Mackay, John Bercow, Douglas Hogg and Michael Portillo.
