LabourList readers would most like Rory Stewart to win the Tory leadership contest, according to our latest survey.

Asked which candidate they would prefer to win the race, a majority of respondents chose the outsider, who is thought to have the softest Brexit position of the six remaining Conservative leadership hopefuls. Stewart has endorsed Theresa May’s deal, but also champions the idea of a citizens’ assembly, and seems to have emerged as the favourite of Tory Remainers.

Most of those who took part in the survey – 54% of 4,686 readers – based their decision on who they thought “would make the least worst Prime Minister”. Conversely, among those who picked on the premise that they would be “easiest for Jeremy Corbyn to beat in a general election”, the top choice was Boris Johnson.

The latter group reflect the views expressed by Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson, who yesterday said: “The one we’re all hoping will win is the favourite Boris Johnson, because I think he’s such a divisive figure that Labour will be able to challenge him quite quickly.”

47% of LabourList readers think Brexit is the most important policy issue to discuss at Labour’s annual conference in September – and 68% would be “happy” if an anti-Brexit motion were passed by the supreme decision-making body.

Asked to select the most pressing topic for debate at the upcoming gathering of party members, Brexit was the top choice, followed by the climate crisis (which 15% opted for). Immigration, foreign affairs and defence were least picked.

Respondents were then asked about a motion currently being considered by hundreds of local parties that would force the Labour Party to support a public vote on any Brexit deal and back Remain in the subsequent campaign. Almost 68% said they’d be “happy” to see it passed by conference, while 24% said they would not be happy and 8% didn’t know.

Keir Starmer came out as the favourite shadow cabinet member again – as he has done in every LabourList survey since our popularity poll was relaunched at the start of the year.

The latest results saw 53% of respondents put the Shadow Brexit Secretary in their top three, down only slightly from 56% last month. Again, Jeremy Corbyn ally John McDonnell was the second most popular, being chosen by 48.5% of readers.

Emily Thornberry and Tom Watson took third and fourth place, as they did in May, but Rebecca Long-Bailey jumped up to a close fifth. The boost follows her recent turn at PMQs, when she took over from Thornberry as Corbyn’s replacement and was widely thought to have impressed viewers with a strong performance.

1. What is the most important policy issue to discuss at Labour’s annual conference in September?

Brexit – 47.06% (2,205) Climate crisis – 15.32% (718) Housing and homelessness – 9.43% (442) Economy – 9.39% (440) Health – 7.6% (356) Other – 3.35% (157) The future of work – 2.94% (138) Education – 2.07% (97) Crime – 1.2% (56) Immigration and detention – 0.75% (35) Foreign affairs – 0.62% (29) Defence/security – 0.28% (13)

2. Anti-Brexit groups hope to debate and pass a motion that would see Labour support a public vote on any Brexit deal and back Remain in that vote.

Would you be happy if the motion were passed?

Yes – 67.88% (3,181) No – 24.01% (1,125) Don’t know – 8.11% (380)

3. Which candidate would you most like to win the Tory leadership election? Why?

Readers were asked which candidate they would most like to win the Tory leadership contest, and then why they had chosen that candidate. They could choose from the following options: Because they would be the easiest candidate for Jeremy Corbyn to beat in a general election, Because they would make the least worst Prime Minister, Neither/other.

Easy to beat Least worst Other Total Boris Johnson 663 63 166 892 Dominic Raab 197 28 35 260 Jeremy Hunt 146 120 46 312 Michael Gove 174 95 41 310 Rory Stewart 198 2,119 322 2,639 Sajid Javid 88 105 80 273 Total 1,466 2,530 690 4,686

4. Who are your top three favourite shadow cabinet members?

Keir Starmer – 53.29% of respondents (2,497 respondents) John McDonnell – 48.51% (2,273) Emily Thornberry – 38.37% (1,798) Tom Watson – 29.96% (1,404) Rebecca Long-Bailey – 26.72% (1,252) Angela Rayner – 18.31% (858) Barry Gardiner – 13.89% (651) Diane Abbott – 13.55% (635) Richard Burgon – 7.3% (342) Shami Chakrabarti – 6.89% (323) Jonathan Ashworth – 6.42% (301) Ian Lavery – 4.8% (225) Dawn Butler – 4.55% (213) Andy McDonald – 3.46% (162) John Healey – 3.24% (152) Nia Griffith – 2.88% (135) Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2.33% (109) Andrew Gwynne – 2.3% (108) Cat Smith – 2.16% (101) Dan Carden – 1.96% (92) Jon Trickett – 1.84% (86) Nick Brown – 1.47% (69) Tony Lloyd – 1% (47) Margaret Greenwood – 0.87% (41) Lord Thomas McAvoy – 0.85% (40) Sue Hayman – 0.75% (35) Peter Dowd – 0.66% (31) Valerie Vaz – 0.6% (28) Barbara Keeley – 0.36% (17) Lesley Laird – 0.36% (17) Christina Rees – 0.34% (16)

The survey was open from 12pm on Sunday 16th June until 12pm on Monday 17th June. The results are unweighted and from a self-selected sample of readers. Thank you to all 4,686 who took part.