Candidates One and Two: Ben Wallace and Penny Mordaunt
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Penny Mordaunt: 30 per cent.
Ben Wallace: 54 per cent.
Don’t know: 15 per cent.
(777 votes cast)
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The final pairing sees the Defence Secretary win by a comfortable distance. He has been a very solid performer in these run-offs – not dropping below half the vote in any of them.
I can’t add much to what I’ve already written about Mordaunt, other than to ask if she has a platform among Conservative MPs durable enough to get her in front of the members.
Meanwhile, does Wallace really want the job? Is he organised if he does? Does he, too, have buoyant enough support among Conservative MPs to make it to the membership stage?
I don’t know – but if our survey is right he would win a Conservative leadership candidate today against any of these other comers (and perhaps against further ones too, if they’re out there). Tomorrow, who can tell?