Jeremy hunt

Qatari cash splashed on jet-setting MPs

Case rates are falling, booster rates are sky-rocketing and Westminster is consumed by the Owen Paterson affair: what more signs are needed that normal life is resuming? And more proof, if needed, was provided by this week’s release of the updated Members’ Register of Interest, in which under-fire MPs revealed that jet-setting junkets have now resumed.  Some 16 Labour and Conservative MPs were last month flown to Qatar as part of the British-Qatari All Party Parliamentary Group, at a cool cost of some £120,000, paid for by the country’s embassy. According to their entries, the MPs were there for discussions on the country’s ‘humanitarian and political response to the Afghanistan crisis, preparations

Keir Starmer may have a better chance of taking Labour to power than anyone expected

First impressions matter in politics. Once the public have made their mind up about a politician, they rarely change it. This is why the first 100 days in charge are so important for any new leader. Get off to a good start, and everything is possible. Stumble out of the gate and your race is run. Keir Starmer is widely expected to be announced as the new Labour leader on Saturday, but he faces the prospect of having to keep his distance from the electorate for the bulk of his first 100 days. The pandemic means that he won’t have the choices that normally come to the winner. There can

Charles Moore

Perhaps we are all communists now

‘I am a columnist for the Daily Telegraph,’ I began a text message to an NHS executive last week. Due to predictive text, the word ‘columnist’ was replaced by ‘communist’. Luckily, I spotted it just in time to delete. But perhaps the error was accurate. Some say we have all come to see the virtue of massive state control. Perhaps we are all communists now, even on the Daily Telegraph, accepting Jeremy Corbyn’s self-assessment that he has been proved right. For a heady moment, it might seem to be the case, but the more one ponders Mr Corbyn’s claim, the odder it sounds. He seems to think that the policies

Will Jeremy Hunt turn government inquisitor?

When Jeremy Hunt made it to the final two of the Conservative leadership contest, many presumed this meant he had secured at the very least a senior job in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet. Alas it wasn’t to be. When Johnson won, the then-foreign secretary was swiftly offered the role of defence secretary. He declined – insisting that he wanted to stay put. As a result, Hunt was shown the door. So, how does the MP for South West Surrey plan to spend his days now he is a mere backbencher? Rumours abound in Westminster that Hunt is considering putting himself forward for a coveted select committee chairmanship – the Health and

Boris Johnson wins the Tory leadership race

Boris Johnson will be Britain’s new prime minister after winning the Tory leadership race. Boris picked up 92,153 votes, or 66.4 per cent. His rival Jeremy Hunt won 46,656 votes, or 33.6 per cent. Turnout in the leadership race was 87.4 per cent. Boris Johnson paid tribute to Jeremy Hunt after his win was announced. He said Hunt had been ‘friendly’ and ‘goodnatured’ on the campaign trail. Boris also thanked Theresa May: ‘Above all, I want to thank our outgoing leader for her extraordinary service,’ he told an audience at the QEII centre. Donald Trump congratulated Boris on his election, saying that the new Tory leader ‘will be great’.

Jeremy Hunt’s ‘entreprenur’ blunder

Did you know that Jeremy Hunt is an entrepreneur? If you’ve heard any of the Tory leadership contender’s speeches or been at a hustings event, you are bound to, given how often Hunt has mentioned his business background. But while Mr S. doesn’t doubt Hunt’s money-making credentials, he does wonder whether he could do with brushing up on his spelling. Over on Hunt’s official Facebook page, a meme has appeared boasting that Hunt is ‘an entreprenur to turbocharge our economy’. Oh dear…

Johnson and Hunt try to unite the Tory party in final leadership debate

Tonight’s Sun debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was far more relaxed than last week’s head-to-head clash. But it was also stuffed with news lines, as both men prepared for the final few days of voting in the Tory leadership contest. Both declared the Northern Irish backstop dead, Johnson ruled out an election before Brexit happens, and they both attacked Donald Trump for telling black and minority ethnic congresswomen to ‘go back’. On Brexit, the answer that Johnson gave about the backstop showed how likely it is that he might pursue a no-deal Brexit: he rejected a time limit or unilateral exit clause. This makes a confrontation with Conservative

Jeremy Hunt’s BBC interview highlights his inconsistencies on Brexit

With less than a fortnight to go before voting for the Tory leadership contest closes, few believe Jeremy Hunt is in with a shot of making it into No. 10. However, Hunt supporters were still hopeful that a game-changing performance in this evening’s BBC interview with Andrew Neil could turn things around. In the end, Hunt put in a competent and confident performance but the interview served as an unhelpful reminder of the candidate’s Brexit flip-flops. Although the Foreign Secretary has been at pains of late to paint himself as a reborn Brexiteer willing to pursue a no deal Brexit in much the same way as his rival Boris Johnson,

Steerpike

Six of the biggest gaffes from the Tory leadership contest

The Tory leadership contest reaches its high point tonight as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt sit down for one-on-one interviews with Andrew Neil. But even if the pair manage to avoid any slip-ups, the race for No.10 has so far produced plenty of gaffes. As this year’s contest reaches its final stages, Mr S. lists his favourites blunders so far: Rory Stewart’s phone gaffe: Rory Stewart made waves with his unorthodox campaign, a back-to-basics pitch that showed up his slicker but less authentic rivals. This facade came crashing down when Stewart tweeted a video of him in Kew Gardens. Eagle-eyed followers noticed something bizarre: while Stewart’s arm was moving around, the camera

Jeremy Hunt shows he doesn’t know how to handle Donald Trump

Jeremy Hunt has tried to end the war of words between Donald Trump and Britain’s ambassador in Washington. But his open warning to the US president – that Trump’s foul-mouthed broadsides against Sir Kim Darroch are “disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country” – is bound to backfire. Instead of calming the situation, Hunt is pouring more fuel onto the fire. Trump lobbing another grenade across the pond later in the day is now virtually guaranteed. Of course, as Foreign Secretary, Hunt has a responsibility to defend his employees. In a distant second place to Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership contest, Hunt may have also calculated that standing

Isabel Hardman

Optimistic Boris looks ahead to turbulent term as PM in TV debate

Jeremy Hunt managed to sum up the Tory leadership contest very aptly this evening when he accused Boris Johnson of ‘peddling optimism’. The line, delivered in ITV’s leaders’ debate, did the Foreign Secretary no favours, though. He was pitching himself as the truthful realist, who wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t deliver on. Johnson ridiculed this as ‘defeatist’, telling the audience in his summation that Britain needed to get off ‘the hamster wheel of doom’. Had Hunt suggested Johnson was ‘peddling myths’ or ‘peddling nonsense’, then his line would have had better force for his cause. Instead, it underlined why the former Mayor of London is doing so well in the

Isabel Hardman

Could Boris Johnson make Jeremy Hunt his deputy?

Who will Boris Johnson appoint as his deputy? Now that voting in the Tory leadership is well underway – with 60 per cent of party members expected to have sent back their ballots by Thursday – most MPs are starting to think more about what the next prime minister’s cabinet will look like, and less about who that prime minister will be. There are more than enough candidates to fill the cabinet twice over, given the number of MPs who have backed Johnson. Some of their colleagues mock them for supporting someone merely because they hope he will give them a government job, but it’s quite understandable that someone might

Boris vs Hunt: a voter’s guide

Voting is finally underway in the Tory leadership contest. So should Britain’s next prime minister be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? Boris is the clear frontrunner but could Jeremy Hunt’s impressive campaign mean that another political upset is on the cards? In some areas, the pair are in complete agreement: they both oppose a second referendum on Scottish Independence, want to reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and have pledged to tackle the North-South divide. But what of the policy differences? Here’s a round up of where each candidate stands: Brexit Boris Johnson: Boris has pledged that Britain will leave the EU by 31 October ‘come what

Jeremy Hunt has shot himself in the foot with his fox-hunting pledge

I moaned here last week about the lack of attention the two Tory leadership contenders were paying to rural communities in their pitches to the party membership. Funnily enough, as Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson have travelled around the country to various party hustings, their tone has now changed. Finally, they are speaking up for people outside towns and cities. Both of them have promised to speed up the delivery of full-fibre broadband to the countryside. They have also vowed to get the UK out of the Common Agricultural Policy, giving us control over our own agriculture policies. Hunt has sworn to place rural society at the heart of his

Katy Balls

Hunt’s fox-hunting comments add to the idea that he is continuity May

Is Jeremy Hunt continuity Theresa May? It’s an allegation that is repeatedly thrown around by supporters of his leadership rival Boris Johnson. MPs have nicknamed the Foreign Secretary ‘Theresa in trousers’ owing to the idea that he isn’t all that different from the current prime minister. The Hunt campaign have been at pains to fight this idea – in an interview with The Spectator, he told me: ‘Don’t confuse continuity for loyalty. I have served two prime ministers completely loyally over the last nine years, but I would be quite different to both.’ The problem is Hunt has made a series of comments which have prompted Tory MPs to worry

Why did Jeremy Hunt keep a low profile in 2016?

It’s hard to go anywhere in Westminster these days without spotting Jeremy Hunt. The Tory leadership contender is popping up in all places, posing for selfies on Twitter and sharing videos of himself out and about on the campaign trail. But while Hunt is doing a good job at stealing the limelight, the same hasn’t always been true. On Hunt’s Facebook page, there are plenty of pictures of him keeping busy in 2013, 2014 and 2015. And there are lots of pictures from 2017, 2018 and 2019 too. But when Mr S. looked for pictures from 2016, he was left disappointed: there were none on his Facebook page. So what

Jeremy Hunt’s foolish no-deal promise

As Jeremy Hunt has repeatedly claimed during the Conservative leadership campaign, to set a deadline of 31 October for leaving the EU is foolish. Why tie yourself to that date if a deal with EU negotiators seemed close to being sealed? But if you have fallen for that argument, it seems no less puzzling why you would want to set a deadline of 30 September instead – as Hunt has done this morning. That is the date, he has announced, that he will decide whether a deal is achievable or not. If it is, he is prepared to carry on negotiating with the EU indefinitely. If it isn’t, then he

The Tory leadership contest is entering its most important week

Although there’s three weeks until the next Tory leader is announced, the contest is entering what is the most important week of the membership stage. On Saturday (6 July), postal ballots will begin to be sent to the Tory membership. The expectation is that the majority of members will vote quickly rather than wait to see how the contest plays out over the remaining weeks. It follows that each campaign sees this week as pivotal for getting its message out there. In that vein, Jeremy Hunt hardened his Brexit position over the weekend. The Foreign Secretary used an appearance on the Andrew Marr Show to try and beef up his

Boris Johnson will make us long for Theresa May’s return

He just will not do. Sexual incontinence alone should not disqualify Boris from the premiership, though it is hardly an asset. But the latest incident dramatises the flaws in his character. Indeed, one could say that he is all flaw and no character. There are three major flaws. The first is serial dishonesty. He simply has no concept of truth. As Philip Stephens of the FT once put it, Boris has lied his way through life and politics. He will say whatever is necessary to get himself out of a hole of his own digging. But if anyone quotes Boris back to himself, even a couple of days later, his

Boris’s campaign is a triumph

Forget what you’ve been told about the Conservative leadership campaign. The Boris campaign’s weekend meltdown has not lost him the election. And Jeremy Hunt has not suddenly leapt into the lead. This is still Boris’s election to lose and the odds are that he will almost certainly triumph. The reason is simple. Boris is following the tried-and-tested playbook of successful campaigns the world over. He is speaking plainly and to the right people. And he has a simple message that he repeats often, reassuring party members that he is the man to trust on the issue that they care about: Brexit. In recent weeks, Boris’s campaign has changed dramatically. But this was a