Theresa May scored better than either Boris Johnson or Sajid Javid against Jeremy Corbyn as to who would make the best prime minister, a new poll has revealed.

The exclusive BMG Research survey for The Independent showed Ms May as the only Conservative leader of the three tested who is preferred by the public to Labour’s Mr Corbyn.

The survey did show however, that Mr Johnson was still named by the highest number of people when asked who should take over the Tory leadership if the prime minister were to step down.

Overall the poll carried out in the middle of the Conservative conference, just ahead of Theresa May’s speech, showed both parties all but deadlocked in terms of voting intention, with Labour on 39 per cent and the Tories on 38 per cent once “don’t knows” were discounted.

Pollsters asked a weighted sample of more than 1,500 people who they would prefer as prime minister in three different contests – May versus Corbyn, Johnson versus Corbyn and Javid versus Corbyn.

In the first, 34 per cent of people said they would prefer to see Ms May as prime minister compared to 28 per cent for Mr Corbyn, with 40 per cent of people saying they would be satisfied with the choice presented, compared to 32 per cent who said they would not.

In the second contest, just 27 per cent said they would prefer Mr Johnson as prime minister to the Labour leader’s 31 per cent, but now only 35 per cent of people were satisfied with the choice, compared to 41 per cent who were not.

In the final pairing, 22 per cent of people said they would prefer home secretary Mr Javid as prime minister compared to 27 per cent for Mr Corbyn, with only 29 per cent of people satisfied with the choice compared to 40 per cent dissatisfied.

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The data follows other polls giving similar backing to Ms May, as she faces potential challenges to her leadership from the likes of Mr Johnson and others in the party who are unhappy with her Brexit strategy.

If Ms May were to step down however, 18 per cent said Mr Johnson would make the best prime minister compared to nine per cent for his nearest rival, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson – who has ruled herself out of a tilt at the leadership any time soon – and six per cent for Mr Javid, chancellor Philip Hammond and backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg.

When it came to voting intention the two big parties were deadlocked on 30 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on eight per cent and Ukip and the Greens on three per cent, with 22 per cent being unsure or not saying.