FOREIGN Secretary Jeremy Hunt says that “Brexit is about more than slogans, belief and positive thinking. You can’t leave the EU on a wing and a prayer”.
He and Boris Johnson are the last men standing in the battle to become the next Conservative Party leader.
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Who is Jeremy Hunt?
The son of a Royal Navy officer, Jeremy Hunt was born on November 1, 1966 and is currently the Foreign Secretary.
That could all change though as he is currently locked in a battle with Boris Johnson to become the next leader of the Conservative Party which would propel him into Number 10 as the country’s next Prime Minister.
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt studied PPE – Philosophy, Politics and Economics – at Magdalen College, Oxford where he was the President of the Oxford University Conservative Association.
Hunt founded the company known as Hotcourses in the 1990s along with his childhood friend Mike Elms.
He stood down as a company director in 2009 but still retained 48 per cent of the shares which netted him more than £14million when the company was sold in January 2017.
He first became an MP in 2005, representing South West Surrey and later had a spell in the Shadow Cabinet, initially for disabled people and later as the Shadow Culture Secretary.
Under David Cameron’s administration he served as the Culture Secretary and the Minister for the Olympics from 2010 to 2012.
Hunt was promoted to Health Secretary in 2012, a position he held until 2018, making him the person to have held the job the longest in British political history.
After Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary over the Chequers Agreement, Hunt was given the post by the Prime Minister Theresa May.
He met his wife, Lucia Guo, in 2008 and the couple married in July the following year. They have a son and two daughters – Eleanor, Anna and Jack.
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Hunt could be given the keys to Number 10
Will Jeremy Hunt be the next Prime Minister?
Hunt was at Oxford at the same time as former Prime Minister David Cameron and the man he succeeded as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Johnson is currently the clear favourite to become the next Prime Minister with the bookies but Hunt’s odds have been improving in recent weeks.
Paddy Power currently has Hunt on 12/1 but Johnson is the favourite on 1/25.
Bookies thought his chances of success were greatly improved after Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds were heard rowing in her flat in Camberwell, South London.
When will the next Tory leader be announced?
The 160,000 members of the Conservative Party started voting for the next leader on July 6 and the deadline for ballot papers is July 21.
An announcement is expected on July 23.
The candidate with more than 50 per cent of the vote is declared the winner.
On July 24 Theresa May is due to take her final Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons and then travel to Buckingham Palace to resign as Prime Minister in a meeting with The Queen.
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What has Hunt promised if he becomes Prime Minister?
He has promised to repeal the ban on foxhunting, saying the bloodsport was part of the country’s “heritage”.
Along with Johnson, Hunt has also promised sizeable amounts in extra government spending.
He has promised £6billion to be spent on a number of projects, including emergency funds for the fishing and farming industries as well as small businesses in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Under Hunt the Royal Navy would get better funding. He said it had been “run down too much” and added the Navy must be “expanded to meet the threat we face”.
He wants to increase overall defence spending by 25 per cent over the next five years.
What is Hunt’s 10-point plan?
On July 1, the Foreign Secretary tweeted out 10 things he would try to accomplish if he becomes the next PM.
In it he describes “ramping up” No Deal preparations and the Government will be working on the basis that the UK is leaving without a deal on October 31.
To do that he said he will:
- Appoint a “No Deal” Cabinet Task Force
- Form a new political negotiating team with members of the ERG, DUP, One Nation Group & Welsh & Scottish Conservatives
- Establish a National Logistics Committee to keep goods flowing in and out of the UK in the event of No Deal
- Cutting corporation tax cut to 12.5%, increasing the annual allowance to £5m, and taking 90% of high street businesses out of rates
- Create a ‘No Deal Relief Programme’, including a £6bn fund for the fishing and farming sectors
What has he said about a No Deal Brexit?
Hunt faced a fresh Brexit backlash after refusing to commit to taking Britain out of the EU by the end of the year.
Challenged once more about Boris’ do or die pledge to deliver Brexit by October 31, Mr Hunt repeated that it would be wrong to “rip up” a deal by that time if it required a “few more parliamentary days” to complete.
But asked if he would commit to leaving by the end of the year, Mr Hunt ducked the question.
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He replied the best way of guaranteeing Britain leaves is to pick a PM who can “actually get us a deal that can get through Parliament.”
Mr Hunt will dramatically step up his bid to close the gap on Boris by trying to prove how serious he is about delivering a No Deal if there is no “prospect” of an agreement with the EU.
And he said he felt a “personal responsibility” for delivering Brexit after his high profile campaign to Leave. “I played a part in that campaign. I take personal responsibility now for what is happening to our country, for the drift and the dither and the indecision, and the failure to be sufficiently robust in the negotiations which we’ve seen so far.
“I want to lead us out of this mess.”
What is Jeremy Hunt’s stance on abortion?
The Tory leadership frontrunner sparked controversy when he announced during an interview with Sky that he believed the abortion limit should be halved.
This would be from the current 24 weeks, down to 12.
He said his stance on abortion was a “matter of conscience”.
What’s the Foreign Secretary’s net worth?
The former management consultant is one of the richest members of the Cabinet.
His net worth was estimated to be around £14million, following the sale of his firm Hotcourses in 2017.
The firm releases information about educational training courses.
Britain’s new Foreign Secretary has said he will use his windfall to “campaign for causes I believe in”, once he leaves politics.
