The Tory leadership race is almost over and at last a new PM will be announced. Most expect that next Tuesday it will be Liz Truss, the Insta-loving, Beyonce-quoting, cheese-bashing Foreign Secretary, who will be stutting her way up Downing Street to the famous door of No. 10. Her first order of business – after kissing hands with the Queen and giving her nuclear instructions – will be the appointment of a new cabinet: a chance to reward friends and purge rivals.

Steerpike thought it only fair therefore to see what the public makes of the prospect of several well-known Westminster faces making a return under Truss. A poll for The Spectator by Redfield and Wilton surveyed 1,500 eligible voters and found that a majority of the public think they have seen enough of only seven leading Tories to be able to make a fair judgment of them. Unsurprisingly, they include outgoing PM Boris Johnson. Less than one in four voters (24 per cent) want him to get a cabinet role, with an impressive 60 per cent against and a mere 15 per cent undecided.

Still, even BoJo’s unpopularity among the general public pales when compared to Matt Hancock, the Casanova of the Commons. The former Health Secretary has tried a series of stunts to rehabilitate himself in recent months, rebranding himself as the face of crypto currencies, assisted suicide and now the Metaverse. But despite all that, he remains woefully unpopular among the general public, who oppose his cabinet comeback by more than three votes to one (58 per cent against to 19 per cent in favour).

In fairness to the womaniser of West Suffolk, he’s by no means alone. More than half (52 per cent) of voters don’t want Priti Patel to return as Home Secretary, compared to 20 per cent who want her to remain in government. Michael Gove has similar ratings with 48 per cent opposed to him continuing his lengthy spell on the frontbench: a proposition supported by 18 per cent of voters. Dominic Raab is rejected by a margin of 15 points, with 41 per cent against compared to 26 per cent in favour.

Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid are the only two Tories who voters as a whole want to see given jobs in the next cabinet. Sunak, Truss’s rival, is supported by 41 per cent of the public versus 37 per cent against, while his fellow former Chancellor is backed by 35 per cent and opposed by a further 30 per cent. Still, for those left dispirited by such findings, bad publicity is at least some publicity, with a whopping 68 per cent not recognising Steve Baker, despite a decade of backbench trouble-making.

It was Gladstone who claimed that a Prime Minister must be a ‘good butcher.’ When Truss takes over the carvery, who will be for the chop?