Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, former PM and current Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak's government, swung by in Gloucester this morning to meet the party faithful and add a touch of ministerial shine to the campaign for the city's Conservative candidate and incumbent, Richard Graham.

Alighting from his ministerial car to offer a hug to his fellow Conservative colleague, Lord Cameron posed on the steps of WInston Hall, the home of the Constitution Club near Bell Lane, and was flanked by invited flag-waving supporters.

In a special interview for Punchline TV, Lord Cameron told Punchline editor Mark Owen that it was his third visit to the city and that Mr Graham has done an amazing job.

Lord Cameron said: "We don't know if these polls are right or wrong; we don't know what's going to happen, but one thing we do know is that if you put a cross in the box of Richard Graham on Thursday you keep a really hard working MP who has helped with education, with transport investment and urban regeneration."

Lord Cameron, who also spoke about investment in the city, further levelling up and rejuvenation of the nearby bowling club, said that his top three tips for good business were team-work, sticking to what you know best and the old addage that "turnover is vanity, profit is sanity!"

On subjects from the A417 improvements to Gloucester's new community diagnostics centre and education, he added: "Nothing moves in Gloucester without Richard knowing about it, he's all over it and we want him to stick at it."

Gloucester has been identified as a Bellwether seat in the vote this Thursday, with the result bearing a reliable reflection on the likely direction of national voting. Mr Graham has been the incumbent MP for the city since he won the seat from Labour in 2010 and went on to retain it in three subsequent votes. He enjoys a majority of just over 10,000 votes.

● The full list of candidates in Gloucester is: Akhlaque Ahmed, Socialist Labour Party; Chris Farmer, Reform UK; Steve Gower, Workers Party of Britain; Richard Graham, Conservative; Alex McIntyre, Labour; Fred Ramsey Green, Independent; Adam Shearing, Green; Rebecca Trimnell, Lib Dem.