Boris Johnson could regain the votes of a group seen as the "lost Conservatives" if he led the Tory party into the next election, a new poll has suggested.
The survey suggested the former Labour leader is the only leading Tory politician who would perform better than the cuurrent PM against the Labour leader.
Johnson would outperform 10 other Tories, including Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister Lord Caermon and Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch.
The polling found that 28 per cent of people would vote for Johnson over Starmer. While 25 per cent said they would vote for Sunak over the Labour leader.
Boris Johnson could regain the votes of a group seen as the "lost Conservatives" if he led the Tory party into the next election, a new poll has suggested
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More than half of those who voted for the Conservatives in 2019 and have since decided to vote for a different party, but haven’t decided which, said they would back the Tories at the next election if Johnson were in charge.
Some 52 per cent said they would vote for Johnson over the Labour leader, compared to just 39 per cent who said they would vote for Sunak over the Labour leader.
The polling, conducted by Whitestone Insight between Jan 23 and Feb 7, surveyed 13,534 British adults online.
Some 52 per cent said they would vote for Johnson over the Labour leader
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Lady McAlpine, who commissioned the polling, claimed the Conservative Party could beat LAbour if it became a "new squeaky clean" party led by Johnson.
Speaking about the current state of the party, she said: "If we have the brains, they’re not evident and that’s because the personality is not there, the charisma is not there. To be a leader, you have to have enormous charisma to be a good leader.”
She added: “It doesn’t matter where Boris goes in the world. People like him and therefore listen to him. They don’t like you, they don’t listen to you.”
Sunak suffered a bruising defeat last week, losing by-elections in both Wellingborough and Kingswood.
Sir Keir Starmer said the results of the by-elections show the public “want change”
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The defeats mean the Conservative Party has now lost more by-elections in a single parliament than any administration since the 1960s.
Wellingborough, which was previously held with a Conservative majority of 18,540, was won by Labour with a majority of 6,436.
This represents a swing of 28.5 percentage points - the second largest swing from Tory to Labour at any by-election since World War 2.
Kingswood was previously held with a Conservative majority of 11,220, but was last night won by Labour with a majority of 2,501 - a swing to Labour of 16.4 per cent.
Speaking on Friday morning, Sunak said the circumstances surrounding the by-elections were “particularly challenging”.
But Sir Keir Starmer said the results of the by-elections show the public “want change”.
“These are fantastic results in Kingswood and Wellingborough that show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it,” he said.
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Wellingborough, which was previously held with a Conservative majority of 18,540, was won by Labour with a majority of 6,436
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The Labour leader continued: “By winning in these Tory strongholds, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them.
"The Tories have failed. Rishi’s recession proves that. That’s why we’ve seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to this changed Labour Party.
"Those who gave us their trust in Kingswood and Wellingborough, and those considering doing so, can be safe in the knowledge that we will spend every day working to get Britain’s future back.”
The double loss piles more pressure on the Prime Minister, who has been battling devastating approval ratings for months.