Editorial Comment:

The Conservative leadership contest was always likely to be heated and hard fought, but it has lapsed into acrimony even before the race is fully under way. A Cabinet meeting yesterday saw clashes among ministerial colleagues over planning for a no-deal Brexit, with Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, accusing the Chancellor Philip Hammond of not releasing money needed for preparations.

The meeting lasted three hours even though it was largely irrelevant given the fact that Theresa May is leaving office and her likely successor was not even in attendance. As our Comres poll indicates today, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, is the popular choice for new leader and would win back a lot of Tories who have deserted to the Brexit Party over the failure to deliver the UK’S departure from the EU.

These findings will change the dynamics of the contest as it becomes increasingly apparent to Tory MPS that Mr Johnson offers the best route to salvation when they might otherwise be facing oblivion. Some of his rivals have made it their main pitch that a vote for Mr Johnson will trigger a general election at which annihilation is inevitable. The poll suggests these fears are misplaced.

But another front has been opened against Mr Johnson since he unveiled a pledge to reduce taxes for the better off. Labour’s outraged reaction was predictable but the response of some Tory leadership hopefuls was hard to fathom. They said it allowed the party to be portrayed as defenders of privilege when they should be espousing the virtues of enterprise, aspiration and a smaller state. That is a Conservative programme they should all unite around.