Tory election victory ‘unlikely but possible’, admits Shapps

Grant Shapps agreed a Tory general election victory is “unlikely but possible”. 

The Defence Secretary said he believed the Conservative Party can still win the contest on July 4 and form the next government. 

But he admitted that is “not the most likely outcome”. 

Asked if the Tories can still win, Mr Shapps told Times Radio: “Yes, it is possible to win the election. Do I accept it is not the most likely outcome? Yes, I accept that, I am a realist. 

“But I also think that when people start to narrow down on this focus, in particular I have noticed this with talking to people on the doorstep where they have been perhaps toying voting in another direction and then realising that just gives Starmer more power and no one, I think at this stage thinks that it would be in the benefit of this country… to have a massive Starmer majority.” 

Asked if he was saying that a Tory victory was “unlikely but possible”, he replied: “I think that is the realistic position, isn’t it? I live in the real world… let’s not try and pretend black is white. 

“But let’s not also try and say that just because opinion polls say ‘X’, that’s what will happen at the ballot box because, as I have mentioned, in 2015, 2016 and 2017, pollsters were the ones who ended up with egg on their faces.”