Tory leadership poll finds 6 per cent of people know ‘a great deal’ about fake MP ‘Stewart Lewis’

When it comes to the latest contest to find the next Conservative Party leader, many high-profile politicians threw their hat into the ring.

There was former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and current chancellor Nadhim Zahawi who were eliminated yesterday, while foreign secretary Liz Truss and previous chancellor Rishi Sunak are still in the running.

Many people, however, may not have heard about a leadership candidate known as Stewart Lewis.

That’s because he doesn’t exist.

Yet that didn’t stop six per cent of 1,000 adults interviewed by polling agency Ipsos from claiming they actually know “a great deal” about him. Another six percent said they know him “a fair amount”.

Ipsos’ UK and Ireland CEO Kelly Beaver told GB News: “We give them the name of a candidate who’s not actually a candidate, so we put in a fictional candidate, [and] you really understand the level of overclaim you see in the awareness ratings, as well.

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“I shouldn’t tell them because we do this every time we have a leadership election, it’s the same person: the MP Stewart Lewis. We found that 12 per cent of the British public believe they know him fairly or very well.

“That’s important because you can pretty much take 12 per cent off every single one of those awareness ratings.”

The findings were part of a wider poll on how well-known all the leadership candidates were, with more than 60 per cent confirming they knew “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about the former chancellor.

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and attorney general Suella Braverman are at the bottom of the list, as both had only 14 per cent of the public saying they knew “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about them.

But it’s Mr Lewis who has caught everyone’s eye online, as many made the same joke about Grant Shapps and his use of pseudonyms:

The next round of voting in the leadership contest is due to take place today, but we assure you Stewart Lewis won’t be on the ballot – but perhaps he should be.

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