Robert Jenrick has closed the gap on Kemi Badenoch in a bellwether survey of the Tory grassroots.

The Conservative leadership hopeful and former immigration minister polled at 25 per cent, up by seven points since the start of the month, in this morning’s Conservative Home rankings.

It comes as a boost to Mr Jenrick on the first full day of the annual Tory conference, which is taking place in Birmingham.

Ms Badenoch retained a comfortable lead on 36 per cent, while the other two contenders, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly, were on 13 per cent apiece.

Mr Jenrick has currently topped both ballots of Tory MPs, who will vote twice more after conference to whittle the field down to two candidates before party members have the final say on who should succeed Rishi Sunak.