Tory members see Foreign Secretary as most in touch

LIZ TRUSS is far more in touch with ordinary people than Rishi Sunak, according to a poll of Tory members.

The Foreign Secretary came out on top in Monday evening’s BBC Conservative leadership debate, according to 50 per cent of respondents. Just 39 per cent felt the former chancellor performed best.

Asked who came across as more in touch with ordinary people, Ms Truss secured a comfortable majority with 63 per cent picking her compared with just 19 per cent opting for Mr Sunak.

The survey of 507 Tory Party members also asked which candidate they thought came across as more likeable, more trustworthy and more prime ministerial. Ms Truss outperformed her opponent in every category apart from the final one which she lost by one percentage point to Mr Sunak.

The results will be seen as a boost to Ms Truss’s campaign and come as Mr Sunak’s team was forced to bat off claims he had been “mansplaining” after he interrupted his rival 22 times in the first 12 minutes of the debate.

Tory members also said that Ms Truss performed better than Mr Sunak on all issues covered in the debate, particularly on Ukraine, the cost of living, and levelling up.

A total of 54 per cent said she was the more likeable candidate while 35 per cent opted for Mr Sunak. And 51 per cent said they felt Ms Truss came across as more trustworthy whereas 37 per cent put their faith in Mr Sunak.

The only category where Mr Sunak came out on top was when viewers were asked who came across as more “prime ministerial”. He had the support of 43 per cent of the viewers and Miss Truss secured 42 per cent of the vote.

A spokesman for Ms Truss said: “Liz demonstrated again why she’s the right person to be the leader of our party.”

Meanwhile, a source from Mr Sunak’s camp said the poll shows that “members are moving towards him”.

They explained that five days ago half of Tory members said they were voting for Ms Truss with 31 per cent on Mr Sunak’s side so today’s poll shows an eight per cent swing in his direction.

It came as a separate poll found that 45 per cent of Tory voters did not want Boris Johnson to resign – the same proportion that thought he was right to quit. Among the wider general public the More in Common survey found that 70 per cent of people thought Mr Johnson should have quit as Tory leader, against 21 per cent who thought he should have stayed.

Elsewhere Lord Cruddas has gathered 13,000 signatures on a petition calling for a Tory-wide vote on whether members should accept Mr Johnson’s resignation. Senior Tory sources made it clear on Monday that Mr Johnson “does not support any campaign to put him on the leadership ballot and will back whoever is the next leader”.