John Redwood has made regular appearances in the ConHome Parliamentarian of the Year – in 2013 he was in third place with 15 per cent of the vote. This year he has topped the poll, more than doubling his support among party members to 33 per cent. His strident economic critique, active blogging and euroscepticism have evidently grown his fan base even further.
Interestingly, Penny Mordaunt came in a strong second, on 26 per cent – either a good-humoured endorsement of her jokey speech which drew an absurd over-reaction from some parts of the press or a recognition of her excellent response to the Queen’s Speech (or both).
Among the wider readership – including those who aren’t party members – the results are remarkably consistent. Redwood still won, with an increased share of 37 per cent. Mordaunt still came second, on a reduced share of 21.5 per cent. Ken Clarke still came third, on an almost identical 20 per cent. The only difference in the order was that among the full set of respondents Lord Lawson pipped Raab to fourth place (by a margin of 0.9 per cent).