Tory MPs with a majority of less than 8,000 votes “might want to look for another job”, a leading pollster and political strategist has said.
Frank Luntz previously told Tory MPs in a private meeting that anyone with a majority of 15,000 votes or less should be worried going into the next general election.
This morning he said that figure was meant to be “provocative” and he believed the actual threshold for concern was 8,000.
He told Times Radio: “I think there are going to be some MPs that are going to be shocked on election day because the vote against them could be so high.
“On the other hand, in travelling through the country, some of these MPs have already understood the frustration with the public, understood the tension between the economy and the environment, which is the conversation I kept hearing, expressed their frustration about immigration, crime and the roads, don’t see that Labour’s going to bring about the change they want and they’re already winning back disaffected Tories.
“So I used that 15,000 mark, frankly, to be provocative, and clearly it was. But I would say that if your majority is less than 8,000, you might want to look for another job.”