Another senior Conservative MP set to quit in face of Lib Dem threat?
The Guardian reports:
Jeremy Hunt is expected to stand down as an MP before the next election, according to senior Conservatives, who say the chancellor is aware he could suffer a “Michael Portillo” moment on polling day.
Hunt has already put himself forward and been selected for the new Surrey constituency of Godalming and Ash, after his South West Surrey seat was dissolved and split into two under boundary changes.
This news, ahem, follows the selection of Paul Follows by the Liberal Democrats for the Godalming and Ash constituency.
Jeremy Hunt wouldn’t be the first Conservative under electoral threat from the Liberal Democrats to absent themselves from the ballot paper at the next general election. Meet Dominic Raab.
UPDATE: There isn’t good news for Jeremy Hunt in The Guardian‘s focus group in his constituency. The paper reports:
The voters that researchers from More in Common spoke to in the new Godalming and Ash seat were part of the so-called “blue wall”. Most were lifelong Tory supporters – as concerned about issues like the rise in private school fees or pressures on landlords as the more day-to-day cost of living concerns we often hear. Voters like these held their noses and stuck with the Conservatives in 2019, despite disliking Boris Johnson, because they feared Jeremy Corbyn was worse. Four years later the mood, summed up by Heather, a sales manager, was of having reached the end of the line with a government behaving like “a runaway train”.
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Looking at the turn-out of those by-elections, it is not so great for UK Labour as at first expected. Many people stayed at home at least more stayed at home in Tamworth.
Starmer’s Labour has no real alternative ideas except vote for me I’m not a Conservative.
If you look closely at Mid Bedfordshire the turnout was much higher.
Labour’s win in both seats were modest compared to Amersham, North Shrop, Frome and Horniton.
The higher turnout was due to the Libdems campaign in Mid Bedfordshire which encouraged participation in the election reflected in the increase of the LD vote in that seat.