Candidate Three: Nadhim Zahawi
Run-off scores –
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Nadhim Zahawi: 39 per cent
Penny Mordaunt: 40 per cent.
Don’t know: 21 per cent.
(776 votes cast)
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Nadhim Zahawi: 39 per cent
Liz Truss: 41 per cent
Don’t know: 20 per cent.
(773 votes cast)
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Nadhim Zahawi: 28 per cent.
Ben Wallace: 52 per cent.
Don’t know: 20 per cent.
(773 votes cast)
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The Education Secretary is proof of the incompleteness of tables that rank people in order of whether they are most popular rather than least unpopular.
In this month’s Next Tory Leader main question, Zahawi comes in fifth with seven per cent of the vote.
But as we have seen, in these play-offs he has seen off Kemi Badenoch, Steve Baker, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat.
And he is so close to Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss as to make no difference.
On a squeeze, he is four points behind Ben Wallace.
Sure, it’s unlikely that he could scoop up an entire column of don’t know votes. But the Education Secretary seems to me solidly placed for a real leadership election if it happens soon – assuming that he has a firm base among Tory MPs.