Tory vice-chair resigns to publicly campaign for leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt

Remarks follow YouGov poll showing clear support for minister among Conservative members

(EPA)

The Conservative Party’s vice chairman Sir Mike Penning has resigned from his position in order to campaign publicly for leadership contender Penny Mordaunt.

“As vice-chair I was unable to declare who I would like to vote for,” he told Sky News. “I stepped down this afternoon”.

Sir Mike said his constituents wanted a “fresh start”, suggesting the “momentum” is now with Ms Mordaunt, who launched her campaign on Wednesday claiming she is the candidate Labour “fears the most”.

“Penny has all the attributes that we’re looking for now, she’s very down to earth, she’s served her country as defence secretary and in the Royal Navy, and particularly in my constituency she will go down very well,” he added.

Sir Mike’s remarks came just moments Ms Mordaunt emerged second in the first ballot of MPs, with chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt both eliminated from the contest.

Rishi Sunak won the most support from colleagues, with 88 MPs backing his leadership bid, but he was closely followed by Ms Mordaunt on 67 while Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, was in third place with 50.

Earlier, Ms Mordaunt emerged as the favourite to win the contest if she makes the final round next week, with aYouGov snap poll of 879 Tory members saw 27 per cent respond they would favour her to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10.

Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was in second place on 15 per cent while Rishi Sunak, who resigned as chancellor last week, and foreign secretary Liz Truss tied on 13 per cent.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, had the support of 8 per cent, while attorney-general Suella Braverman was on 5 per cent.