Jeremy Hunt in knife-edge election battle as UK Conservative voters lose faith

2/7/2024 13:52

        Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt is fighting for his political life in affluent Godalming, south-east England, where a growing number of voters say they no longer recognise the values of his Conservative Party as their own.
        
        If Hunt is defeated on Thursday in the general election - and some polls indicate he will be - his fate will symbolize not just a change in government, but a collapse in Conservative support in the "home counties" around London that had been solid for more than a century.
        
        The 57-year-old, appointed in 2022 to stabilise the economy when former premier Liz Truss sparked a bond market rout, has focused as much on the local in his campaign, such as his support for a new cancer centre, as the national.