There is just a little more than a week left until the deadline to cast votes (September 2) in the race for the Conservative Party leadership between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and the former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. 

An opinion poll for The Observer shows that Truss has 61% support of Tory members, while Sunak lingers behind at only 39%.

This poll also revealed that although Liz Truss has far larger support than her rival, Conservative party members would rather see current PM Boris Johnson remain in office rather than being replaced, no matter the candidate. 

Around 63% of Tory members polled said they wanted to see Johnson still be in charge, against 22% who favoured Truss. 

On the other side, 68% said they would still want to see Johnson at Downing Street than be replaced by Sunak, who was preferred by only 19%.

Rishi Sunak has suggested he would turn down a job in a future Liz Truss cabinet if he lost the Conservative leadership contest. He backed his statement by explaining that he “would not want to disagree with another prime minister on big things”.

The name of the new leader of the Conservative Party and, as a consequence, the UK’s new PM will be announced on the 5th of September, following the closing of the votes. 

Image: Twitter (@trussliz)

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen