Voters have delivered a damning verdict on Kemi Badenoch’s start as Tory leader.

The number who think she is a “prime minister in waiting” has fallen during her first six weeks in the job, according to a YouGov poll.

Badenoch took over from Rishi Sunak on November 2 after defeating Robert Jenrick in the Conservative leadership contest.

Two weeks later, YouGov found that 47% of the public did not think she was a PM in waiting, compared to just 15% who did.

A new poll carried out in the past week showed that 53% now think she is not ready to enter No.10, while the number who think she is had fallen to 13%.

Meanwhile, 37% of voters think she is doing a bad job as Tory leader, compared to just 20% who do not.

The findings appear to confirm that Badenoch has got off to a bad start as leader of the opposition.

She has regularly been bettered by Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions, and has also managed to commit a series of gaffes.

Badenoch was openly laughed at my MPs when she suggested the PM should resign last month, and bizarrely called for another election just months after the Tories’ landslide defeat.

She also faced ridicule for claiming sandwiches are not “a real food” and was accused of being a “reverse Robin Hood” for backing a flat rate of income tax which would massively benefit the rich.

Badenoch became embroiled in a war of words last week with the deputy president of Nigeria after he accused her of “denigrating her country of origin”.

Patrick English, YouGov’s director of political analysis, said their poll “makes for concerning reading for the newly minted Conservative leader”.

He said: “These figures are significantly worse than Starmer’s at the beginning of his leadership.

“Starmer clearly proved a break from the previous leadership in a way that Badenoch has not, with opinion of Starmer initially positive.”