Kemi Badenoch tops Tory poll of most popular ministers

Kemi Badenoch leads the latest Cabinet popularity rankings, receiving the highest approval rating from Tory members.

The business secretary tops the ConservativeHome rankings, replacing the recently departed defence secretary Ben Wallace, who “consistently topped polls” among grassroots Conservatives thanks to his “handling of the war in Ukraine”, said The Telegraph.

Badenoch has “now seized his crown” and tops the poll with a rating of +59 ahead of the Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly – “just in time for Tory conference”, wrote The Spectator.

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It is bad news for Rishi Sunak though, who has seen his rating slump. After receiving a slight “popularity bounce” to 20.7 points, having staved off a defeat in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in July, Sunak has “sunk” to near the bottom of rankings with a score of -3.8, added The Telegraph. There are only six other ministers behind him, including the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the new Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, while Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick props up the table.

Badenoch is now considered to be among the contenders for the Tory leadership should the party lose the next election, alongside Mordaunt and Cleverly who are “both favourites to replace Sunak”, The Spectator said. Her new ranking, which has always been consistently high, is a clear indication she has “made a connection with scores of Tory grassroots supporters”, added The Telegraph.

The regular ConservativeHome ranking received a lower-than-usual response of 700 members on this occasion, which marks not only the “summer season” but also the “diminished expectations” of Tory members, said ConHome editor Paul Goodman. It is the response of a “demoralised panel braced for defeat”, he said, and although the scores are not “on the journey-to-the-centre-of-earth scale” of Theresa May in 2019, it nonetheless spells a “bleak return for the Government as Parliament resumes”.