Four in five of our party member respondents say yes. Hunt is top choice to come in from outside – but there’s no strong support for any non-member.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury wins decisively with over half the vote. Johnny Mercer was the runner up, with more than a quarter.
Plus: I’ve never thought a national unity government is a runner, and I think it’s even less likely now.
In a field this crowded and with an electorate so, er, sophisticated, make no assumptions about which names will be forwarded to Party members.
Also: Mercer resigns over Government’s handling of historical allegations against veterans; and Welsh health minister fends off no-confidence vote after latest scandal.
May’s bogus jollity has become intolerable.
The row over his sacking is a sign of a Party pulled in different directions by the way politics works – and by culture wars. Now a new competitor is knocking at the door.
Also: Eleven candidates prepare to fight Newport West by-election; Trimble hints that backstop changes could be enough; and more.
Several Ministers helped to see off the Government’s best hope of avoiding a full-on crisis in the Party – and perhaps of saving Brexit too.
Philip Davies, a famously long-standing and committed Brexiteer, is among their number.
There is not only an overwhelming moral case for supporting ex-servicemen and women, but a strong political one too.