Hunt’s constituency office targeted in graffiti attack days before Budget
Surrey Police are appealing for information about the incident in Hindhead on Monday evening.
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Your support makes all the difference.Police are appealing for information after offensive graffiti was daubed on Jeremy Hunt’s constituency office just days before his Budget statement.
Pictures show “die Tory scum” was daubed in three places across the front windows of the building in the village of Hindhead, Surrey.
Surrey Police said: “Officers were called following reports of criminal damage at a property on Tilford Road in Hindhead, which is believed to have taken place between 8pm and 9pm on Monday March 4.
“The criminal damage involved graffiti being sprayed on the windows on the outside of the property. No-one was present in the property at the time of the criminal damage.
“If anyone has any information that could help our investigation, including any CCTV, dashcam, or helmet cam footage, please contact us via live chat on our website quoting PR/45240025530.”
The incident took place two days before the Chancellor unveiled his Budget in the House of Commons.
A notice has been placed in the office window, asking any visitors to make an appointment “due to a heightened security risk to staff”.
The graffiti has since been removed from the windows and the blinds remained closed on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Mr Hunt said he would not be “deterred” by the attack on his office.
“The British people are famously tolerant, which is why we have one of the most robust democracies in the world. We won’t be deterred by a few idiots,” he told the Express.
Mr Hunt’s constituency office was contacted but declined to comment.
Last week, security minister Tom Tugendhat issued a warning to protesters threatening MPs.
“If you threaten members of this House, if you threaten democracy, if you threaten the British people, we will go after you and we will get you and you will be detained,” he said in the Commons.
It came as the Government announced an extra £31 million to protect elected representatives after MPs shared their experiences of receiving death threats and concerns over the safety of their families.
In January, Conservative MP Mike Freer announced he would step down at the next general election following a series of death threats and an arson attack on his constituency office. A man was given a community order on Wednesday after calling his office and saying: “I’m coming for you.”
Conservative backbencher Tobias Ellwood’s house was targeted in February by pro-Palestinian protesters, with the police warning his family to “stay away” from the property to avoid “antagonising the situation”.
Mr Hunt has been Conservative MP for South West Surrey since 2005. Due to boundary changes, he will stand in the new Godalming and Ash seat at the next general election.