Jeremy Hunt could quit as MP as Tory fears grow over Labour landslide
Jeremy Hunt is reportedly expected to stand down as an MP ahead of the next general election, in fear of a ‘Portillo moment’.
The Chancellor, who has already been selected to stand in the new Surrey constituency of Godalming and Ash, will resign before Prime Minister Rishi Sunak goes to the country, senior Conservative sources have told the Guardian.
It comes in the wake of two disastrous by-election results for the Tories last week with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claiming his party is “redrawing the political map” after winning historic victories in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth on Thursday night.
Fears of a ‘Portillo moment’ – the decisive unseating of then-cabinet minister Michael Portillo in 1997 – are swirling around several current cabinet ministers, including Greg Hands and Penny Mordaunt as Labour’s poll lead and expectations of a majority next year solidify.
Hunt’s current seat of South West Surrey is to be divided into two under boundary changes at the next election but questions are now emerging over the senior cabinet minister’s future.
He has held the seat since 2005 but his majority – 28,556 at its height in 2015 – was slashed to just 8,817 in 2019, while the Liberal Democrat vote soared.
Lib Dem Waverley council leader Paul Follows has been selected to stand against Hunt in the new seat, which is likely to be a two-race between them and the Tories.
Follows vowed to “work to ensure that the Portillo moment will become the Hunt moment”.
Hunt’s spokesman told the Guardian on Friday his position remained that he would stand for reelection. But the paper said it had heard otherwise from multiple national and local voices.
One source told the Guardian that Hunt, a former businessman, would be “the biggest scalp on election night” if he were to lose, adding: “That is not a departure anyone would want.”
If he chose to announce his resignation, there could also be questions about him remaining in post at the Treasury ahead of the general election lead-up following the Autumn Statement.