One in three Tories wants George Osborne to be Britain’s next prime minister.
In a poll of 700 party members, the Chancellor has shot up nine points to replace Mayor Boris Johnson as the favourite to succeed David Cameron as Conservative party leader.
Mr Osborne won 31 per cent of the vote followed by Business Secretary Sajid Javid on 19 per cent and Mr Johnson in third place with 17 per cent, in the poll for influential Tory party blog, ConservativeHome.
Outshined: the previous rising star Boris Johnson has been pushed into third place
This is a marked turnaround from the same poll taken a year ago where Home Secretary Theresa May was the frontrunner with 35 per cent of Tory party member backing compared to just eight per cent for Mr Osborne.
The results in full:
George Osborne: 30.9 per cent
Sajid Javid: 18.7 per cent
Boris Johnson: 16.6 per cent
Liam Fox: 13.9 per cent
Theresa May: 13.1 per cent
Michael Gove: 4.5 per cent
Jeremy Hunt: 2.1 per cent
Nicky Morgan: 0.8 per cent
Peter Hoskin, ConservativeHome’s Associate Editor, said the polls shows a marked change in opinion since the election.
He wrote: “This is actually the first time that Osborne has led our future leader poll, and one of the clearest signals of party members’ reinvigorated enthusiasm for him.
“The Chancellor who is regarded as one of its architects, and who has since delivered the first all-Tory Budget for almost twenty years, has prospered.”
Home Secretary Theresa May was the favourite to succeed David Cameron this time last year
Mr Osborne is widely viewed as the man with the power in government, taking a key role in May’s general election campaign as well as unofficially expanding his brief beyond the Treasury.
The Independent reported in March that reports the Chancellor had given up his dream of getting the top job were incorrect.
One ally said: “It’s a game of snakes and ladders. It all depends on who’s up and who’s down when the contest is held.”
Mr Cameron surprised many during the campaign when he told the BBC he was planning on stepping down after two terms as prime minister. Budget 2015: George Osborne unveils pre-election package
Although he insists he plans on serving out his second term, in Tory circles some claim the money is on him stepping down after the EU referendum in 2017.
