A new opinion poll has revealed Boris Johnson is the people’s choice to succeed Theresa May as prime minister.
The YouGov survey found the foreign secretary is the frontrunner among the public and Tory voters to replace the embattled Conservative leader, who is struggling to restore her credibility after losing her Commons majority last week.
Ruth Davidson is behind Mr Johnson in second place.
The Scottish Conservative leader has repeatedly denied she is interested in the UK job as she sets her sights on becoming First Minister in 2021.
But perhaps, it was telling that, when asked who would make the best prime minister if Mrs May stands down before the next election, the most popular reply from respondents was they did not know (32%).
That was 14% ahead of Mr Johnson, whose leadership ambitions were seemingly killed off following his role in the Leave campaign, who was backed by 18% of the public and 31% of Tory voters.
Ms Davidson has seen her stock rise in the party after bucking the UK-wide Tory trend in the election of losing seats by increasing her number of Scots MPs from 1 to 13.
But she was well behind Mr Johnson, with 8% of both the public and Conservative voters thinking she would be best replacement for Mrs May.
Other names put forward were Brexit Secretary David Davis, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s approval rating has reached a new low of -34, compared with +10 in April, according to YouGov.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has told his party to stay in campaign mode in anticipation of a return to the ballot box, is on +6. In November last year, the Islington North MP’s rating dipped to -35.
