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Sadiq Khan today strengthened his position as a possible Labour leader-in-waiting as a new poll showed him winning over thousands of Tory and Ukip voters in London.

In contrast, the YouGov survey found that fewer than one in five who voted Labour in 2015 believe Jeremy Corbyn will win the next general election.

Fifty eight per cent of Londoners now believe the Mayor is doing his job well, a big increase from 45 per cent in July.

Most striking was the fact that they include just over half of Conservative voters, compared with 29 per cent three months ago.

His support among Ukip backers has jumped from 14 per cent to 24 per cent, far bigger than the rise of a few percentage points for Labour and Liberal Democrat voters.

The findings suggest that Mr Khan, despite being seen at Westminster as representing the soft Left of the Labour Party, can win over centre-ground voters who are key to winning general elections.

However, Labour MPs still question how popular he would be in some other regions of Britain.

The poll, though, makes grim reading for Mr Corbyn.

The Labour leader was seen as “principled” and “honest” by a significant proportion of London voters — but also as “divisive” and “deluded”.

Just 18 per cent of Labour voters in London believe he is likely to lead his party to victory in 2020 — and only one in 10 adults overall in the capital.

Forty eight per cent of Londoners, including four in 10 Labour voters, believe the MP for Islington North is doing badly as Labour leader, compared with 28 per cent who say he is doing well. More men than women think he is failing to do a good job, as do older people.

Given a series of words and asked if they associated Mr Corbyn with them, 41 per cent of respondents said “principled”, 29 per cent “honest”, and 21 per cent “courageous”. But 26 per cent said “divisive”, the same proportion “deluded” and 21 per cent “weak”.

Tanya Abraham, from YouGov, said: “Five months into the job, Sadiq Khan has support from across the political spectrum following a very active start to his mayoralty, making the case for London in the wake of the EU vote.

“This is in direct contrast to Jeremy Corbyn whose front bench team has been labelled too ‘London-centric’. Yet people in the capital have not warmed to him — not even Labour voters.”

The poll also showed that Theresa May is seen as doing well by more than four out of 10 Londoners, and badly by just under a quarter.

Twenty two per cent of Labour voters believe she would make the best Prime Minister, rather than Mr Corbyn.

YouGov interviewed 1,036 adults in London between September 27 and October 3.