A GRASSroots revolt against mainstream opposition candidates hoping to unseat Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the General Election, has resulted in Labour expelling three long-serving party members on Monday.

Dubbed ‘The Godalming Three’, Labour executive member Steve Williams, Kate Townsend, and Robert Park, were sacked by party HQ after publicly backing National Health Action party candidate Dr Louise Irvine as their preferred choice to stand against Mr Hunt, who has been Conservative MP for South West Surrey since 2005.

The three Labour activists are members of the local branch of the UK Progressive Alliance movement.

It is calling for opposition parties in the South West Surrey constituency to collaborate and back a single candidate in a bid to oust one of the Government’s most powerful members.

At an action meeting on Saturday, the South West Surrey branch overwhelmingly voted for NHA’s Dr Irvine, who stood against Mr Hunt in 2015, to be the single progressive alliance candidate. It also proposed Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens should step aside and give her their full backing in June’s General Election.

Mr Williams said: “Jeremy Hunt is a deeply unpopular MP among many of his constituents who hold him responsible for the current sorry state of the National Health Service.

“Jeremy Hunt is now facing a serious challenge from a highly capable and articulate GP, who is well accustomed to taking him on and fighting for keeping our National Health Service as a high quality, well-funded public service, providing world-class healthcare for all, free to the user at the point of use.”

While hopes that Labour would support the cross-party bid spectacularly failed to materialise, triggering the three expulsions, prospective Green candidate Susan Ryland announced she would step aside and was backing Dr Irvine.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said there would be no pacts with other parties, and the Labour party nationally said it would have nothing to do with so-called “progressive alliances”, which see parties standing aside to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote.

But Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas urged left and centre-left parties to get together to prevent “a massive Tory landslide”.

UKIP candidate Mark Webber, who also contested the 2015 election and came second with 5,415 votes, said Mr Hunt’s “massive” 28,500 majority at the previous election was “unassailable”. He said: “The left simply don’t have much traction at all in that part of the country, even if they band together.”

Calling on Green voters to support the NHA, Ms Ryland, from Hindhead, said: “With her first-hand experience as a GP, Louise Irvine can hold Jeremy Hunt MP to account on his record as Health Minister.

“She is concerned with the health of our nation in its widest sense. She shares our values as a progressive alliance and will deliver a strong message on the environment, housing, social inequality and the need to work closely with our neighbours in Europe.”

Ex-Godalming resident David Black has been selected as the Labour Party candidate and the Lib Dem’s Ollie Purkiss hails from the town.

Mr Black said.: “I am relishing the possibility of challenging Jeremy Hunt on his NHS strategy. Before he was elected, we worked closely together, here in South West Surrey, on the issues and challenges of delivering effective care, particularly on the complex needs of the elderly and vulnerable.

“This election is billed as being all about Brexit, but it is actually about handing a Tory government an opposition-free mandate to drive down per pupil and per patient funding that will have real effects on us all.”

Mr Purkiss said: “The big national issues facing us have real impact locally, and I relish the opportunity to take the Government to task on the key issues, such as our struggling social care system and cuts to school budgets.”

Speaking to The Herald following his expulsion, Mr Williams, who was secretary of the South West Surrey Labour Party, said: “I was expelled after 46 years of membership by an email.

“What’s happening in South West Surrey is people are coalescing around Louise Irvine, because she is uniquely placed to take on Jeremy Hunt.

“The Labour Party has never come within striking distance of beating the Conservatives in this constituency. Labour and the Lib Dems should get the wake-up call and come together and recognise this grassroots movement.”

Announcing her candidature on Tuesday, Dr Irive said: “I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from all areas of the country since I was selected last Saturday to represent the progressive alliance in SW Surrey against Jeremy Hunt.

“I promise that I shall do my very best to deserve it.

“I want to hold him to account for his treatment of the NHS and to alert people to the risks of another five years of Tory government, what it will do to the NHS and to society as a whole, which I think is extremely worrying.

“I will be talking about NHS and social care cuts but also education cuts, the degradation of the environment and the housing crisis, growing inequality due to austerity and the impact of that on the health and wellbeing of everybody.”

• In order to be be eligible to vote next month voters must be on the electoral roll by May 22. See www. gov.uk/register-to-vote.