Rishi Sunak’s star is well and truly extinguished. The Chancellor is now the most unpopular member of the Cabinet, according to the latest poll of party members by Conservative Home.
Sunak’s popularity has plunged into negative figures, at -5.2 points, in the wake of the furore about his wife Akshata Murthy’s former non-domicile status.
Rwanda has lifted Patel from bottom to mid-table; PM and Sunak bottom in @ConHome Tory members survey https://t.co/XuKFTaeYwg pic.twitter.com/BkoNBDULxV
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) April 25, 2022
And the ongoing cost-of-living crisis is continuing to depth charge Sunak’s chances of succeeding Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. A separate survey by YouGov suggests there has been a steep decline in public satisfaction with HM Treasury over its management of the economy.
Further up the field, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (+85), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (+64) and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi (+60) stand out from the pack as potential leadership contenders.
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And Home Secretary Priti Patel gets an honourable mention. Her controversial Rwanda asylum scheme looks to have gone down a treat with Tory members. She has shot up the league from -17 last month, to +31 this month.