Prominent EU campaign says Northants MP Leadsom is '˜clear frontrunner' to be Prime Minister
The 53-year-old Towcester politician has been given a major boost in her bid to take over the Tory leadership, after the Leave.EU organisation announced it would be supporting her.
Mrs Leadsom is currently in a straight fight between fellow MPs Theresa May, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb and Liam Fox to take over the top job.
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Hide AdHowever Leadsom is being billed as the one true Brexiteer among the bunch, having fought to leave the EU in the referendum run-up.
Leave.EU co-chairman Arron Banks said the organisation has carried out “extensive polling” of its members, around 43 per cent of which are Conservative supporters.
“The data indicates that Andrea Leadsom is the clear frontrunner among those supporters,” he added.
Though Leave.EU was not the official out campaign, it claims to have been the only organisation to call the referendum result almost exactly right, at 52 per cent to 48 per cent in favour of Brexit.
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Hide AdMr Banks said it is important the new Tory leader is fully committed to leaving the EU and said he was not convinced with Michael Gove and Theresa May’s campaigns.
He said: “We need a clean break and a fresh face. Andrea was the breakout star of the Leave campaign during the referendum: calm, assured and, in contrast to May and Gove, honest; putting the case for Brexit eloquently and passionately.
“Leave.EU will therefore be throwing its full weight behind Andrea, particularly online - 15,000 people a day visit our website for information on Brexit, and we reach as many as twenty million people a week through our social media presence, bypassing the print and broadcast media entirely.
“This converted countless Leave votes during the referendum, and we expect to have a similar impact on Andrea’s leadership bid.”