Damian Green's rivals have the herculean task of trying to assault his crushing 13,298 majority.

The Shadow Immigration Minister has one of the safest Tory seats in Kent, which has remained Conservative since 1931.

Even Labour, which had the second highest share of votes in the 2005 General Election, only gained half the support enjoyed by Mr Green.

Mr Green has been the constituency's Conservative MP since 1997 and is now fighting for a fourth electoral victory.

He has repeatedly expressed his concerns about the scale of immigration into the UK and demanded tighter restrictions.

His most dramatic moment came in November 2008 when he was arrested in the Commons in connection with a police investigation into Home Office leaks.

He was never charged with any offence and it emerged that the Metropolitian Police had searched his office without a warrant.

A final Commons report on the matter last month criticised the then Speaker Michael Martin, civil servants, the police and Commons officials.

Mr Green, 54, is married with two daughters.

Labour's candidate is Chris Clark, a 30-year-old London Underground employee who lives in Pluckley.

He is championing his party's pledges to secure the economic recovery and halve the budget deficit through economic growth.

He is also flagging up Labour's promise to protect frontline investment in areas such as policing and controlling immigration through a points-based system.

Liberal Democrat candidate Chris Took is promptly getting on the soap box, holding a question and answer session with the public at the Ashford town centre bandstand from 10am to 4pm on Saturday .

His four main priorities are fair taxes, a fair start for every child, fair, clean and local politics and a fair, green economy.

Mr Took, 29, is a sales director who is married and lives in Kennington.

Fighting for the Green Party is Ashford-born machinist Steve Campkin, 32, who works for the Cooksons plumbing equipment firm in the town's Henwood industrial estate.

Mr Campkin campaigned against blood sports and over the conditions of asylum seekers in Calais.

Paul Andrews is the candidate for the UK Independence Party.

Mr Andrews, a locally-based businessman, was selected to fight this seat last September, at the inaugural meeting of the newly-set up UKIP Ashford branch.

UKIP was originally founded on the single issue of withdrawing from the European Union but now has an entire range of policies.

For instances it promises to offer referendums on an issue if a certain percentage of a constituency demands it. It is also offering to give more power for councils to scrap unelected regional bodies.

These are the known candidates for Ashford so far and nominations for remaining ones have to be submitted by April 28.

The make-up of the Ashford constituency changes slightly with the loss of the Saxon Shore ward to neighbouring Folkestone and Hythe.

This is because of the expanding Ashford population but means that the two constituents no longer geographically match their district council areas.

2005 election result:

Conservative 26,651

Labour 13,353

Liberal Democrat 8,308

Green 1,753

Conservative majority 13,298