Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Chancellor Hunt faces ‘knife edge’ battle to return to Parliament

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (Aaron Chown/PA)
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (Aaron Chown/PA)

Jeremy Hunt said he faces a “knife edge” battle to win his seat in the face of a Liberal Democrat push to claim a high-profile scalp on July 4.

The Chancellor is standing in Godalming and Ash, a seat with a notional Conservative majority of more than 10,000.

But he said the newly-created Surrey seat was “very marginal”, while the Lib Dems view it as their opportunity for a “Portillo moment” on election night.

Sir Ed Davey visits the Godalming and Ash constituency
Sir Ed Davey campaigned in the Godalming and Ash seat in March (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The Chancellor is facing a battle to win Godalming and Ash in Surrey, with the Liberal Democrats keen on taking a high-profile scalp.

Boundary changes mean Mr Hunt is standing in the newly created seat, which would have had a Conservative majority of 10,720 if it had been fought on those boundaries at the 2019 election.

In a reference to then-cabinet minister Michael Portillo’s election loss in 1997, Mr Hunt was asked whether he faced anew Portillo moment.

He told broadcasters: “This is a very marginal constituency. I’ve always treated it as a marginal constituency.

“I’m fighting for every vote. I think that I can win the seat. But I don’t take anything for granted.

“It is on a knife edge. And that’s what I’m knocking on doors for, six hours every day, meeting lots of people, making the arguments.”