Who will replace Boris Johnson? The case for Ben Wallace

Who will replace Boris Johnson? Ben Wallace odds

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary and former soldier, is a low-profile figure who has become more prominent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Ben Wallace was opposed to Brexit and previously led Boris Johnson’s failed 2017 leadership campaign, before being rewarded with a cabinet post in 2019. 

Whilst in the military he served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize and Northern Ireland where he thwarted an IRA effort to carry out a bomb attack on British soldiers. 

He was one of the main army personnel involved in recovering Princess Diana’s body from Paris after her tragic death in 1997.

Who will replace Boris Johnson? The case for Rishi Sunak

Ben Wallace odds

Tory MP Ben Wallace is the favourite among Tory members to replace Boris Johnson as party leader and prime minister, according to a new YouGov polling of Conservative members about who they would vote for. 

The poll asked who they’d choose in a head-to-head contest, asking about various different scenarios with different candidates. 

In all scenarios containing Mr Wallace, he wins by a significant margin. 

Mr Wallace beats Liz Truss by 48 per cent to 29 per cent, Penny Mordaunt by 48 per cent to 26 per cent, Rishi Sunak by 51 per cent to 30 per cent, and Jeremy Hunt by 58 per cent to 22 per cent.

He comes top of a wide-open field of candidates as the first preference vote with 13 per cent, just ahead of Ms Mordaunt on 12 per cent and Mr Sunak on 10 per cent.

Liz Truss trails on 8 per cent while Michael Gove and Dominic Raab are on 7 per cent each. Tom Tugendhat polls 6 per cent, just ahead of Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi on 5 per cent and Sajid Javid on 4 per cent.

Rounding out the top three is Ben Wallace, with odds of 7/1. Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak are currently in the top two places. 

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