Foreign Secretary lags 22 points behind with grass-roots Tories

BORIS JOHNSON is more than 20 points ahead of Jeremy Hunt among grass-roots Conservatives, a poll suggests.

A ComRes survey for The Sunday Telegraph found that 61 per cent of Tory councillors intended to vote for Mr Johnson in the party’s leadership contest, with 39 per cent planning to back the Foreign Secretary.

The poll also reveals an overwhelming preference for a no-deal exit from the EU if the next Conservative leader fails to secure a better deal with Brussels.

Some 83 per cent of councillors said the next Conservative leader must deliver Brexit on or before Oct 31, when the extended Article 50 notice period is due to expire, while 80 per cent said if the EU refuses any further concessions the UK should leave without a deal.

About 77 per cent disagreed that the next Tory leader must extend Brexit if the alternative is a no-deal exit, compared with 23 per cent who agreed.

Meanwhile, 62 per cent said they SOURCE: COMRES POLL OF 510 CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

would support an electoral pact between the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party if it was likely to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of Downing Street.

The proportion of councillors (88 per cent) who said Mr Johnson was most likely to win the leadership contest was significantly higher than those intending to back the former mayor of London themselves. The poll of 510 councillors was the first carried out among the Conservative grass roots since Thursday’s ballot of MPs confirmed Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt as the two candidates to be put to members.

It was carried out over Friday and yesterday, when news broke that poSOURCE: COMRES POLL OF 510 CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

lice had been called by neighbours to the home of Mr Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds during an apparent row between the couple.

It found that 71 per cent of councillors believe Mr Johnson is best placed to defeat Mr Corbyn, compared with 29 per cent who backed Mr Hunt.

Most councillors said Mrs May’s successor should scrap the £56billion HS2 rail project, which has become dogged by concerns about spiralling costs. Yesterday, Mr Johnson reiterated a pledge to hold a review – a policy the survey suggests could help drum up support among Tory activists. Mr Hunt has insisted the project should go ahead.