A new poll for The People explores what might happen in hypothetical leadership contests of the Conservative and Labour parties.
David Cameron received the most support among the general public and Conservative supporters in a hypothetical Conservative leadership election. Four in ten (42%) people said they would like to see him win if there was an immediate leadership election, while among Conservative supporters he had the support of three in four.
David Cameron's closest rivals in the poll were Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London (12% of general public and 7% of Conservatives) and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary (10% of general public and 10% of Conservatives). Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary received the support of 9% of the general public but only 3% of Conservative supporters.
A hypothetical Labour leadership contest is less clear. Among the general public David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary garners the most support with 27% while Ed Miliband receives 21%. They are both significantly ahead of others such as Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London (10%), Ed Balls the Shadow Chancellor (9%) and Harriet Harman (7%) the Deputy Leader. Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary and Chuka Umunna the shadow Business Secretary receive just 3% and 1% respectively.
However, among Labour voters the Miliband brothers are equal, both on 30%. Livingstone and Balls (10% and 9% respectively) are their closest challengers among Labour voters, while Harman, Cooper and Umunna are far behind (6%, 5% and 1% respectively).
Tom Mludzinski, Deputy Head of Political Research at Ipsos MORI said
“David Cameron clearly retains the confidence of his party. We know that a large majority of Conservative supporters are satisfied with his job performance and this poll shows that three quarters would still want him as their leader. One of the big challenges facing Ed Miliband is enthusing his own party as Labour voters are divided over which of the Miliband brothers they would like to lead the party.”
Ipsos MORI interviewed a representative sample of 1,007 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 21-23 January 2012. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.