TORY leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt boasted that she’s the most popular candidate among the Scottish Conservative membership – based on a poll of just 78 people.

The trade minister’s allies have been desperate to paint an image of Mordaunt as a well-liked figure north of the Border, with both Borders MP John Lamont and influential David Davis helping spread the word.

The National:

So far there has been little evidence to support the claims, but now a YouGov poll reveals that 34% of Scottish Tory members want Mordaunt to be the next prime minister.

There are only a few thousand Scottish Conservative members, and senior representatives are split on who to support. Andrew Bowie has backed Rishi Sunak, while other Holyrood figures are throwing their weight behind Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch.

In fact, recent polling from Savanta ComRes suggests just 11% of people can name Mordaunt from her picture alone and some mistake for her for Adele.

On Friday, Mordaunt shared a graph revealing that she’s the top pick to become party chief among 34% of members in Scotland, with Badenoch next on 15% and Sunak behind on 14%, the same percentage as Liz Truss.

She wrote alongside it: “Thank you [Scottish Tories]! My plan will deliver for Scotland, and all of our United Kingdom.”

“I’m not surprised that @PennyMordaunt has so much support in Scotland,” added Lamont.

“Penny will unify our country again,” he claimed.

But the poll cited was among just 879 Conservative members across the UK – with only 72 people in Scotland asked for their view (78 when weighted).

That meant just 34 people had declared their support for Mordaunt – a very small sample size.

READ MORE: Who is Penny Mordaunt? The Tory who claims she won't 'play Nicola Sturgeon's games'

Earlier this week, Davis claimed – without evidence – that Mordaunt is “very popular in Scotland”.

SNP MP Mhairi Black said it doesn't matter whether Mordaunt, Sunak or anyone else wins the race, as whoever it is "Scotland loses".

"The Tory leadership contest is a race further to the right - with candidates backing damaging Tory policies that have already inflicted lasting harm upon Scotland," she said.

"If Penny Mordaunt and the other candidates respect the views of the people of Scotland then they will respect democracy and their right to decide their own future. 

"The Scottish Government has been given a cast-iron democratic mandate by the people to hold an independence referendum and that is what we intend to do on October 19 2023. No Trump-like efforts from Boris Johnson or his potential successors can deny that democratic reality."

Mordaunt too argued she could smash the SNP’s “yellow wall” and said her Royal Navy background means she can defeat nationalism.

But the SNP president, former constitution secretary Michael Russell, said that in their past meetings Mordaunt had shown a “complete disinterest in Scotland and Wales coupled with laziness – she never delivered anything she promised”.