Kemi Badenoch is the clear frontrunner in a poll of Tory members on who should take over from Rishi Sunak.
The survey by the influential grassroots website Conservative Home on who should be the next Tory leader put the shadow housing secretary on 26%.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and ex-security minister Tom Tugendhat are joint second with 13% each, half the score of Ms Badenoch.
Right-winger Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is next with 10%, while shadow home secretary James Cleverly takes 9%.
Dame Priti Patel, another ex-home secretary, is on 3%, while shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins is on 2% and former minister for common sense Esther McVey is on 1%.
A further 7% said other, while 16% said don’t know in the poll of 995 Conservative Party members carried out from July 8-10.
No candidate is yet to officially declare they will run for the Tory leadership following the election defeat earlier this month.
Mr Sunak said he would step down as party leader once the formal arrangements for choosing his successor were in place.
The 1922 Committee of backbenchers will set the rules and timeline of the race for his successor.
But there are divisions in the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.
There have been calls from some Tories not to rush the process, but others have argued that a protracted contest would leave a vacuum for Labour and Reform UK to capitalise on.
On the broadcast round this morning, shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell urged Mr Sunak to stay on until November.
He said the Conservative Party conference at the end of September should be used for a “showcasing” of contenders.
