Savage polls dent George Osborne’s dreams of following Cameron as Prime Minister

Only 15% of voters think the Chancellor is the man for the job, putting him a distant third behind London Mayor Borish Johnson and Theresa May

George Osborne’s dream of being the next Prime Minister suffered a crushing blow yesterday as two separate polls confirmed he is hated by the public.
An IpsosMORI survey for the London Evening Standard found a measly 15% of voters think the millionaire Chancellor is the best person to follow David Cameron , putting him a distant third behind Boris Johnson and Theresa May.
A Survation poll for the Huffington Post also put him on 15%, 10 clear points behind frontrunner Mr Johnson .
With Mr Cameron viewed as a lame duck after announcing he will stand down before the 2020 election, the internal Tory war to succeed him is heating up.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan was the latest figure to add her name to an increasingly crowded field ahead of next week’s Tory Party conference in Manchester.

“I hope that, in the not-too-distant future, there will be another female leader of a main Westminster political party,” she said, in a clear shot across the bows of her rivals.
Asked if it might be her, she replied: “A lot of it will depend on family. Being leader of the party is so all-consuming.”
Bookies immediately slashed the odds on her succeeding the PM to 20/1, putting her behind Business Secretary Sajid Javid in fifth place.
Mr Osborne remains the hot favourite however, having masterminded the Tories’ shock election victory in May.
He has overgone a dramatic image makover in the past two years as he plots a path to Downing Street, shedding several stone in weight and getting a more on-trend haircut.

His allies have been promoted to key Cabinet positions and the IpsosMORI poll found he is now the most popular choice among Tory voters, narrowly ahead of Mr Johnson by 32% to 29%.
But the London Mayor remains way out in front among the wider public, securing 27% of people’s support compared to Mrs May’s 17% and Mr Osborne’s 15%.
Tory bible the Spectator revealed yesterday that Mr Johnson already had a secret plan in place to challenge for the leadership should the Tories have lost the general election.
The Mayor had a raft of polls up his sleeves designed to show colleagues he was the best candidate to reach out to the wider public.
But his hopes were shattered when Mr Cameron stormed to his unexpected election victory.

It is now widely thought Mr Cameron will step down in the spring of 2019, giving his successor a fully year at the helm ahead of the next general election.
An outside candidate from the right of the party could be former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson , who was sacked by the PM last year.
Mr Paterson did not deny he is likely to stand for leader when asked yesterday.
“I’ve said ‘no’ before, but nobody believes me,” he admitted.
“That is not the current plan.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/savage-polls-dent-george-osbornes-6557201

Of course, in the shallowness of Conservative circles, that would be a deciding factor