Kemi Badenoch surges in popularity with Tory grassroots as she remains strong favourite to replace Rishi Sunak ahead of leadership rivals

Kemi Badenoch has surged in popularity among the Tory grassroots as she remains the strong favourite to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader.

A survey of Tory members for the ConservativeHome website found the shadow housing secretary was backed by one-third (33 per cent) of respondents.

This was up seven points from last month when Ms Badenoch was backed by one-quarter (26 per cent) of Conservative activists.

Her closest challenger was Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, who was up six points from last month to 19 per cent.

But this was only just above the number of party members who replied ‘don’t know’ (18 per cent) when asked who should be the next Tory leader.

A survey of Tory members for the ConservativeHome website found Kemi Badenoch was backed by one-third (33 per cent) of respondents to be the party’s next leader

The shadow housing secretary remains the strong favourite to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader

Ms Badenoch’s closest challenger was Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, who was up six points from last month to 19 per cent

Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, and James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, were both backed by 10 per cent of Conservative members in the survey.

Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, was supported by 8 per cent of activists, with shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride in last place with 2 per cent support.

The top three candidates for the Tory leadership – Ms Badenoch, Mr Jenrick and Mr Tugendhat – remained the same as last month’s survey.

Mr Jenrick was this week criticised by Mr Stride for claiming people who shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ during street protests should be ‘immediately arrested’.

His comments prompted outrage as critics pointed out that ‘Allahu Akbar’ translates as ‘God is Great’.

Mr Stride said the ‘suggestion of wholesale criminalisation of the words Allahu Akbar is unwise and insensitive’.

‘Any threat in the use of these words can only ever be implied in the very rarest of circumstances. Context clearly matters hugely here,’ he added.