About half members of the Conservative party in the United Kingdom have voted against their leader, Kemi Badenoch, in leading them into the next election, according to a poll by YouGov.

The poll that was reported by Sky News on October 6 saw 46 per cent of the members supporting Badenoch as the Tory leader in the next election, while 50 per cent say she should not.

The poll now clearly leaves Robert Jenrick, who lost to Badenoch a year ago, to be the members’ favourite.

The report added that Tory members are split as to whether she will make it that far. A total of 49% think she will be out before the election, compared with 47% who think she’ll still be in place.

The Tory leader will hope that this week’s conference in Manchester will steady her leadership.

However, when asked who they would prefer as leader of the Conservative Party, 46 per cent of Tory members picked Robert Jenrick, comfortably ahead of the 39 per cent who said Ms Badenoch. In all, 11 per cent said neither, and 4 per cent don’t know.

The poll of 652 Conservative members was taken between September 26 and October 2.

The report added, “Having lost to Ms Badenoch a year ago, Mr Jenrick is now comfortably the members’ favourite, and would beat Boris Johnson, James Cleverly and Priti Patel. Badenoch would narrowly beat Johnson if they went head-to-head.

“The poll also asked whether members had a favourable or unfavourable opinion of leaders.

“It showed 70 per cent had a favourable opinion of Badenoch and 29 per cent held an unfavourable view. While 73 per cent had a favourable opinion of Jenrick, and 20 per cent had an unfavourable opinion.

Badenoch rejects any kind of electoral pact with Reform UK at the next election, but this is out of step with Tory members.

The poll finds 64 per cent support an electoral pact, meaning Reform and the Tories would not stand candidates against each other in target seats, while 31 per cent do not.