Our investigation. Jenrick is ConservativeHome readers' MP of the Year 2024.

This year, we decided to offer a completely open field to our panelists to choose their MP of the year 2024. The main observation? It seems like this really increases a candidate's chances of having recently run for leadership.

Among the six MPs who entered the race this summer, five obtained the first places in our spontaneous question, the three podiums being awarded to the three finalists.

The only one missing out was Priti Patel, who got just three votes. It is not clear what could have caused the shadow foreign secretary to be so late, except perhaps her decision to defend the “Boris wave” of mass immigration (fairly inevitable, since she was Boris Johnson's Interior Minister).

Otherwise, it doesn't matter whether or not someone stayed on the front bench (Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride) or returned to the back benches (James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat).

The only real gap is between the top two – it is surely no coincidence that they were runners-up in the leadership race – and everyone else.

Jenrick takes first place. Buyer’s remorse from members? It's possible, but the margin is only six votes, so this possibility should not be overestimated, however attractive it may be. We should at least wait to see if he also tops our Shadow Cabinet rankings, which will be released next week, where Badenoch has enjoyed a comfortable lead for some time.

A more likely explanation is simply that he has been by far the most energetic and high-profile shadow minister in recent months, particularly in the grooming gang scandal.

In other words, he was quickest to grasp the very different dynamics of the opposition. In government, the press comes to you and you make the news by default; a minister can build a relatively strong public image on the basis of a relatively small number of judicious interventions on favored subjects, as Badenoch did.

Outside of government – ​​and especially in the face of a government with such a large majority – the situation is very different, and you have to fight for every bit of media attention. Our panelists also have no real political accomplishments or failures in office on which to base their votes. Energetic shadow ministers can thus determine their own climate to a much greater extent than real ministers; it will be interesting to see if and when Jenrick's colleagues begin to learn from his example.

Below the top five, it's interesting to see Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the most senior members of the outgoing government, ranked sixth and seventh despite leading the party to a disastrous general election result. The presence of Suella Braverman and David Davis, two high-profile right-wing MPs, in the top ten is less surprising than that of Chris Philp, the new Shadow Home Secretary – although again, the grooming gang scandal gave him the opportunity to take center stage in Parliament.

Below that, the numbers drop quite quickly; Nick Timothy, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Danny Kruger deserve honorable mentions for narrowly missing out on the rankings with ten, nine and eight votes respectively, while Kevin Hollinrake took home six. Below them, 26 other deputies received more than one vote:

Five:

• Andrew Griffith
• Iain Duncan Smith

Four :

• Alex Burghart
• Miriam Cates
• Esther McVey
• Robbie Moore
• Penny Mordaunt

Three:

• Claire Coutinho
• Caroline Dinage
• Marc François
• Richard Fuller
• Craig Mackinlay
• Ben Obese-Jecty
• Come on Patel
• John Sequoia
• Andrew Rosindell
• Grant Shapps
• Greg Smith

Two:

• Victoria Atkins
• Sarah Bool
• Damien Hinds
• Alicia Kearns
• Andrew Mitchell
• Bradley Thomas
• Laura Trott
• Matt Vickers

42 other current or former MPs (we allowed candidates who left Parliament during the elections) obtained one vote each; We are delighted to see such close engagement in our investigation from the green benches.