Penny Mordaunt is the most popular Tory cabinet minister

Penny Mordaunt overtook Kemi Badenoch to top the rankings for the first time since June 2019.

Penny Mordaunt overtook Kemi. Badenoch will top the Cabinet popularity rankings among Tory rank-and-file activists.

The Leader of the House of Commons and the Business Secretary are the bookmakers' two favorites to succeed Rishi Sunak if the Tories lose the next general election. .

In a ranking of Cabinet ministers compiled by ConservativeHome, the Conservative Party's news and opinion website, Ms Mordaunt's net satisfaction score rose by almost eight points from 47.5 to 55.3.It is the first time the Portsmouth North MP has topped the polls since June 2019 when she was Defense Secretary and comes after her attack on Sir Keir Starmer after he lobbied the Speaker to secure a vote on Labour's position on the issue Gases.

Meanwhile, Ms Badenoch, who has led all but one ConservativeHome poll since September, decreased the net score from 58.8 to 50.1.

She is now in second place, ahead of Johnny Mercer, the Minister for Veterans Affairs, and Alistair Jack, the Minister for Scotland.

Ms Mordaunt contested both 2022 Tory elections. in the leadership race, finishing third and second respectively, although she has repeatedly pledged her support for Mr Sunak.

Ms Badenoch said there were conspirators in the leadership who want her to replace PM minister, “not my friends,” insisting she “fully supports” him and asking rebels who want to overthrow him to “stop messing around.”

And a record 11 cabinet ministers had a negative rating, including Jeremy Hunt, third from bottom with -20.6 points, and Mr Sunak, second from bottom with -23.1.

The Telegraph polls show that the Conservatives continue to trail Labor by an average of around 20 points. Earlier this week, the Tories received their lowest result in Ipsos polling since it began tracking Westminster voting intentions in 1978.

The Ipsos poll also found Mr Sunak's personal approval rating was lower than that of Liz Truss, his predecessor, after her mini-Budget in September 2022.< /p >

Others who fell into negative territory in the ConservativeHome poll included Oliver Dowden, deputy prime minister, Michael Gove, housing secretary, and Richard Holden, chairman of the Conservative Party.

The least popular was the leader of the Conservative Party. Michael Tomlinson, Irregular Migration Minister, after more than 400 Channel migrants arrived in the UK in one day on Monday, bringing the total under Sunak to 40,000.

Mr Tomlinson last week failed six times to explain why Tory MP Lee Anderson's comments about Sadiq Khan were incorrect, causing interviewer Nick Ferrari to end the interview and say the minister had «failed to answer the question».