Election 2024: Jeremy Hunt clings on amid bloodbath of Tory big beasts

Jeremy Hunt has clung on to his Surrey seat as scores of former cabinet members including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Grant Shapps were ousted in a bloodbath of Tory big beasts around the country.

The incumbent Chancellor, who has been the the MP for South West Surrey since 2005, won the newly created seat of Godalming and Ash by around 1000 votes after stiff competition from the Liberal Democrat Paul Follows.

The result came after a record-breaking amount of cabinet ministers were ousted over the course of the night, including Grant Shapps, the defence secretary; Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor; Gillian Keegan, the education secretary; and Penny Mourdant, who had been talked about as a potential challenger for the leadership of the Tory party after the election. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former cabinet minister, also lost his seat.

Following Hunt’s victory, his wife Lucinda was reportedly seen weeping with joy during a television interview. In his speech following his victory, Jeremy Hunt became emotional saying: “A message to my children, who I sincerely hope are asleep now.

“This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t.

“We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes and bits of paper.

Jeremy Hunt

“Brave Ukrainians are dying every day to defend their right to do what we did yesterday and we must never take that for granted. Don’t be sad, this is the magic of democracy.”

The scale and significance of the defeats underscores the collapse of support for the Tories in their traditional home counties heartlands.

Hunt had admitted during the election campaign that his seat was on a “knife edge,” but had insisted that he was “fighting” for the constituency and was “no Michael Portillo” – the former cabinet minister who lost his seat in the 1997 general election. James Walsh, his Labour opponent, said during the campaign that Hunt was seeking to position himself as the “underdog”.

Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats mounted an offensive on swathes of the so-called Blue Wall throughout the campaign, as the largely remain-voting region abandoned the Tories on the back of Brexit and the party’s swing to the right.

The future leadership of the party is now unclear, though both Hunt and Rishi Sunak held onto their seats. Both Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, considered leadership contenders, also won their seats.

Hunt was appointed chancellor in the last days of Liz Truss’ Tory government, after he declined to take part in what would have been his third Tory leadership race. When he entered No. 11, Hunt was hailed as “the most powerful person in Britain”.