Boris, Gove and May all up in our next Tory leader poll

By Paul Goodman
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• Boris is up from 21 per cent to 23 per cent.

• Michael Gove is up from 20 per cent to 22 per cent.

• Theresa May is up from 16.5 per cent to 17 per cent.

• William Hague is down from 16 per cent to 13 per cent.

• David Davis is down from 14 per cent to 11 per cent.

The three leading contenders from last month's poll have thus pulled ahead of the next two down.

Boris maintains his narrow one point lead over Gove, and May's recent advance inches further forward.

The Mayor has risen slightly after falling back nine points last month: being a bit out of the news is the best explanation for the recent drop.

The explanation of Gove's rise must be that he is seen by respondents as one of the Government's most effective Ministers.

May is gaining admirers as a strong Secretary of State who delivers.  Boris will be watching her progress closely.

Our poll was carried out during the last half of last week. Hague's ratings may thus have been hit by the Syria crisis. Gove's Commons outburst doesn't seem to have affected his standing.

A reminder: the poll question asks who should lead the Party after David Cameron. He remains firm favourite to lead the Party into the next election among respondents.

65 per cent of them want him to do so - down one per cent from last month. Over 2000 people responded to the survey, of which over 800 were Conservative Party members.