BORIS Johnson has received an Olympics boost to his chances of succeeding David Cameron as Conservative Party leader while the Tory grassroots seem to have fallen out of love with the omnishambled George Osborne.
The latest poll by ConservativeHome asked more than 1400 party activists who they think should fill Mr Cameron's running shoes as Tory leader when the time comes for him to vacate them.
Some 32% opted for the London Mayor, 24% for William Hague, the ex-leader and now Foreign Secretary, while 19% preferred Michael Gove, the former journalist-turned-Education Secretary. A mere 2% plumped for the Chancellor.
Tim Montgomerie, of the Tory grassroots' website, suggested the reason behind Mr Johnson's popularity: "He is a Eurosceptic who doesn't just love his country but loves its people too whatever their politics, colour, religion or sexuality - He hugs the nation and smothers it with rhetorical kisses."
Being kissed, even rhetorically, by the straw-haired Conservative Old Etonian might fill some voters with dread, but Mr Montgomerie also argued the London Mayor had been able to pinpoint those things the Tories could change about modern Britain and those they could not.
Mr Johnson was, Mr Montgomerie explained, a "traditional all-blue Tory" on, say, strike laws, the tax burden and police num-bers, but he also had what some might say was a progressive out-look by supporting an amnesty for immigrants, gay rights, a living wage for London's low-paid and Olympics-sized state investment in infrastructure.
Yet while it is one thing for the London Mayor to win a personality contest against "Red" Ken Livingstone, it is another for Mr Johnson to convince the rest of the UK he should be their premier.
The Olympics has undoubtedly raised Mr Johnson's profile, and in the traditional Tory-supporting Home Counties he will be able to garner a certain level of support. Moving further north however, this support will thin out and by the time Scotland is reached, it risks being non-existent.
The attractions of Conservatism north of the Border have at the past two general elections meant they have only been able to muster a solitary MP, and there are fears they would disappear altogether if Mr Johnson took the Tory crown.
Even within the most Conservative circles in deepest blue southern England, there are serious misgivings about the London Mayor, who has shown he has a serious side but who has not yet been able to ditch his what-ho Bertie Wooster image. There are also questions about whether he has the support to propel him to Downing Street, if he has the political agenda, and if he has the time and ability to become an MP.
Of course, just like last time, the next winning candidate for the Conservative Party leadership could emerge from the wings. The Tories have acquired a habit of not choosing the favourite contender as their leader.
Mr Cameron, if he were to serve a second term as Prime Minister, might even seek to contest a third General Election and bail out after that, which would take us to 2022/23.
Which may mean the next Tory leader might not even be at Westminster yet.
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