Could Hunt become next PM as the gap closes in on Johnson

The battle between Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson will be over in three weeks, despite a bruising week for Johnson he is still the firm favourite, or is he?

Hunt is starting to creep up and close the gap as he is now polling at 30% up from the 11%, he was on. Johnson is polling at 65.52% but is currently not gaining any more traction.

Given last weeks fracas between Johnson and his girlfriend the poll is a boost for him.

Conservative Home said, “Johnson’s vote may only have improved by three per cent from 62 per cent, compared to Hunt’s rise of 19 per cent from 11 per cent, but he still leads the Foreign Secretary by a whacking 36 points.

“Johnson now has two-thirds of the total vote, 66 per cent, and remains set to win this election.

“As we suspected on Tuesday, his domestic row seems to have made next to no difference to his standing among activists.”

German media has slammed Johnson, Germany’s leading newspaper Bild, asked, “Will Europe soon have its own Donald Trump?” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung broadsheet called Johnson a “charlatan” and he is a “clown and an opportunist.”

However, the Telegraph commissioned a ComRes poll that said Johnson only has a 22-point lead.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI told the Evening Standard that “amongst the public at large the race between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt is neck and neck.”

On Thursday Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson announced that she is now backing Hunt to become the next prime minister.

Another poll suggested that more than half of Scottish voters will vote to leave the UK should Johnson get the keys to Number 10.