The Liberal Democrats have launched a new fundraising campaign called the “Portillo pot”, aimed at ousting cabinet ministers in blue wall seats. The party leader, Ed Davey, said he would most like to defeat the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, and the education secretary, Gillian Keegan. Hunt, the MP for Godalming and Ash, has long been on course to become the first chancellor in modern times to lose at a general election, according to polls. The fear of such a loss pushed him to contribute more than £100,000 of his own money to his constituency Conservative party in order to bolster his chances of re-election. Chalk, MP for Cheltenham, won his seat in 2019 with a slim 981 majority, and is also on course to lose to the Lib Dems after they retained control of Cheltenham borough council last month in the local elections.
Polls have also predicted Keegan, the MP for Chichester in West Sussex, is on course to lose her seat. In an email seen by the Guardian, the Lib Dems told members: “This is a critical moment in our general election fundraising. The Conservative party machine is pouring funding into our target seats across the blue wall, in particular cabinet ministers’ seats. After multimillion-pound donations from Conservative donors, including Frank Hester, money is no object for their campaigns. “Three high-profile Conservatives have now stood down in our blue wall target seats; Michael Gove in Surrey Heath, Dominic Raab in Esher and Walton, and John Redwood in Wokingham. Jeremy Hunt said his seat was on a knife-edge in the Evening Standard but it’s clear the Conservatives are paying to bail out the failing campaigns of the ministers they have left. “We need to launch a new fundraising campaign to combat these Conservatives. This new ‘Portillo Pot’ will be spent in seats where Conservative ministers are paying to hold on to power.” A Lib Dem source said: “Conservative big beasts have been running scared of the Liberal Democrats at this election. Now, we’re ramping up campaigning and fundraising to try to get rid of the final cabinet ministers standing in blue wall seats. “It’s clear that in many parts of the country, it’s the Liberal Democrats who are the threat and the challengers to the Conservatives. People want to send the Tories a message, particularly to cabinet members because of their day-in day-out defence of this appalling government.” Rishi Sunak has visited at least seven Lib Dem target seats including Wimbledon, St Ives, and Harpenden and Berkhamsted. He held two separate events in Chesham and Amersham alone last week, underlining the importance of such seats to his party’s electoral fortunes.