It was evident from yesterday’s run-offs that Michael Gove and Sajid Javid are the two big beasts among those Conservative MPs likely in our judgement to stand for the Tory leadership if there’s a vacancy. That may change.
And it’s a close-run thing, but Javid has it by fewer than 20 votes over a thousand. So: he does the double of topping our Next Tory Leader survey and beating three other contenders in run-offs.
But, as we keep saying, the poll is a moving picture. We may try some other run-offs next month, but don’t plan to repeat this particular series of six for the time being, though given the jitters at the top of the Government one never knows.