THE next stage in the Conservative leadership race is fast approaching.
Central Devon MP Mel Stride, whose constituency covers Crediton, Okehampton and Ashburton, is one of six candidates in the running for the top opposition job.
The other MPs vying for the Tory leadership are Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel and Tom Tugendhat.
Between Wednesday, September 4, and Wednesday, September 11, the parliamentary Conservative party will vote to whittle the playing field down to four contenders.
Then, in October, the candidates will be cut to the final two by the parliamentary party before wider party members vote for their new leader.
The winner will be announced on Wednesday, November 2.
Mr Stride, who is Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, will need the support of MPs if he is to make it to the last four, and then the final two.
If he makes it to the last pair, he will have to win over Conservative members.
But a YouGov poll of more than 900 party members between August 6 and August 15 suggests he is the least popular of the current six candidates.
Kemi Badenoch seems firmly in the lead with 24 per cent of respondents saying she should be the next leader.
Some distance behind was Tom Tugendhat with 16 per cent, followed by James Cleverly with 14 per cent, Robert Jenrick with 12 per cent and Priti Patel with 11 per cent.
Mr Stride, meanwhile, came last with just two per cent supporting his bid, while 19 per cent were undecided.
YouGov also pitted pairs of candidates against each other, as if they had made it through to the last stage, to see who might win in a head-to-head contest.
Mel Stride lost to Kemi Badenoch with 14 per cent of a random subsample of members backing him compared with 61 per cent for the Shadow Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary.
He also lost to Robert Jenrick, with 15 per cent compared with 50 per cent.
The current leader of the Conservative Party and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will remain in post until the new leader is announced in November.