'He's all right I suppose': hope for Hunt in Surrey, less so in the north

For now, the framed portraits of Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt still gaze at each other across the floor of his constituency office in the village of Hindhead, just around the corner from a beauty spot known as the Devil’s Punch Bowl.

Not that local supporters of the foreign secretary are resigned to a mugshot of Boris Johnson inevitably replacing May’s photo when the dust settles on the Tory leadership race.

“We keep telling him that it doesn’t matter if everyone sees your soft side. Let it show,” said Denise Le Gal, the chairman of South West Surrey Conservative association. A longtime friend, she rejects the caricature of Hunt as a bland technocratic “Theresa May in trousers”.

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“This is by no means over and I certainly wouldn’t underestimate him because, while we all might think Boris is an amusing guy, we have some very tough negotiations over Brexit coming and I think people would rather a businessman than a journalist doing it. I think what [Hunt] needs to do is convince the membership of that.”

Hunt’s constituency of South West Surrey is home to one of the country’s larger concentrations of Tory members – the 993rd, who joined on Friday morning, was advised that voting for the leader was only open to those with three months under their belts.

The Johnson juggernaut will roll into the area for hustings scheduled for next month. Among non-members the Guardian spoke to, the race tended to be viewed with a bemused detachment.

At a National Trust cafe beside the Devil’s Punch Bowl – a natural amphitheatre created, according to legend, by an epic battle between two giants – Vanessa Mason rolled her eyes at the mention of Johnson’s name.

“We don’t need an entertainer. We need someone who is straightforward although quite frankly we liked Theresa. She got a rotten deal and basically ended up as the fall guy,” said the pensioner, a lifelong Conservative voter.

Not that Hunt or anyone else had impressed her in the recent debates. “I watched but no one stood out. Rory Stewart just came across as young and ineffectual.”

Nodding her head in agreement, her friend Eve Carr added with a shrug: “I always vote Conservative and Hunt’s all right I suppose … but we could do better.”

The level of enthusiasm remained low on the high street in the nearby town of Haslemere, where the elimination of Sajid Javid was mourned by Shirley Whittall, a Tory party member.

“I think Boris is a bit iffy to be be honest,” said the 85-year-old, who became a member after moving to Britain in the 1960s. “Then again … can you really know what any of them are like?”

Voters in South West Surrey – who went 52.95% for remain in the EU referendum – might have been cool on Hunt’s opponent, it was of a different order among members of the public 311 miles to the north in another solidly Conservative seat, Ribble Valley (56.4% leave).

The view from ‘Brexit Valley’

“There’s no question in my mind. It’s Boris every time for me,” said Patricia Counsell, 64, a trader at Clitheroe Market.

“He’s always straight to the point and tells it absolutely as it is. People in Lancashire like that in a leader. Ask Boris a question and he’ll give you a proper answer. He’s not bothered if it gets him in trouble.”

Her friend Ann Simpson, 64, agreed with Counsell’s assessment of the last two Tory candidates standing – and that Hunt was “a remainer, for a start”.

“Boris is his own man, I think, and Hunt is just Theresa May in trousers. She was a waste of space, and he is too,” she said. “People around here will get behind Boris, no question. They see the Ribble Valley as Brexit Valley – and they’re proud to be that way.”

Malcolm Goldsworth, 66, the captain at the town’s golf club, was more measured in his approval of Johnson as the leading contender for Downing Street.

“Not everything he says is right, but at least he has a point of view and he’s direct. When he’s finished speaking, you know where you stand,” said the retired police officer. “Lancashire voted solidly for Brexit and he’s been very strong on it from the start. He’s not bothered about who he offends. My view is that we voted out; let’s just finally get out.”

‘I wonder if Johnson is quite a scary number’

Back on the sunny streets of Haslemere meanwhile, some of the most clearly expressed points of admiration for Hunt came from Isabelle Cole, who said she had always believed his skills might one day propel him into Downing Street.

But there was a catch: “I personally was really rooting for Rory Stewart, but then I’m a Liberal Democrat and was recently elected a councillor.”

Looking on at her Tory neighbours, she also suggested that southern Conservatives in places such as Surrey might well still balk when it comes to giving the keys of No 10 to Johnson.

“There’s a tendency to caricature but nobody here is an out and out redneck Tory. They’re quite mid-blue around here. When it comes to it, I wonder if Johnson is quite a scary number for a lot of Tories who like to tread carefully and hedge their bets.”