Conservative voters would prefer Boris Johnson to remain Prime Minister over Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, a poll has found.
Mr Johnson stepped down as Conservative Party leader in July amid mounting pressure following the Chris Pincher row.
The Tory leadership race has already been whittled down to two candidates – Ms Truss and Mr Sunak.
But a new poll by The Times found 49 percent of Tory supporters would rather Mr Johnson remain as the PM.
Boris Johnson
Peter Nicholls
That figure was more than the support for both Ms Truss and Mr Sunak put together.
It comes after neither candidate have so far been able to prove they could do a better job, according to research for The Times.
Tory voters have backed Mr Johnson, with one saying: “The others have not had to deal with everything he’s had to.
“He stepped straight in and it was Brexit and then it was Covid and now it’s the war in Ukraine. Everybody waffles on about, he should have done this, he should have done that. But I’d like to see them in his shoes.”
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak
PA
While another said: “If he would have failed or succeeded, we’ll never know now. But he should have been given the opportunity.”
Speaking earlier this month, Bring Back Boris campaigner Alex Story said he hoped Mr Johnson could still be added to the ballot.
Speaking on GB News’ Farage, Ms Story was asked by Nigel: “You can’t get him on the ballot can you?”
To which Mr Story replied: “It’s always good to hope, what’s been interesting about the entire process is that if we go back over the last two decades, we know when Tony Blair resigned people cheered, when David Cameron resigned people shrugged their shoulders, when Theresa May resigned there was an intense sigh of relief from most of the population.
“But when Boris was forced to resign, 14,000 letters were sent by members of the public to Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
“But then I think the interesting thing is the spark that was led by Lord Peter Cruddas because by doing that he enabled people to say, hang on this thing was forced on us.
“We have a Prime Minister whose flaws were known.”