Jeremy Hunt

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The leading advocate of a free-trade, no-deal, Brexit.


Articles

  • Dec.26.2018: Jeremy Hunt orders global review into persecution of Christians. Timing is everything; currying favour with those on the cultural right-wing of conservatism is a great idea, when you think you have a chance of becoming Prime Minister. Foreign Office review will be led by Bishop of Truro and is due by Easter. It will be specifically directed at the persecution of Christians, reflecting Hunt's view that since Christianity is the established faith in the UK, it is legitimate for the state resources to be devoted to the review. Hunt believes that growing persecution of Christians in some countries is often a symbol of wider persecution. Christian groups claim as many as 3,000 Christians were killed in 2018, a doubling of 2017 figures. Patrick Wintour, Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian.
  • Sept.28.2018: Potential threats waiting in the wings. Theresa May’s party conference speech is titled Campaign 2022 — but few think she will make it that far. Pitch: Calm and effective competence to soothe a divided party. Strengths: fter surviving a long-running row over a junior doctors’ contract to become the longest-serving health secretary, has shown he knows how to operate the levers of government. Is clearly ideologically malleable: he briefly ran for the leadership in 2016 mooting the possibility of a second referendum. He now casts himself as a reborn Brexiteer. Weaknesses: Along with Theresa May and Philip Hammond he is the only minister who has served continuously in cabinet since 2010: would he really offer the change the Conservatives need? His ideological malleability could mean few fully trust him. Some think he is too bland. Backers: In 2016 they were effectively non-existent. Like Mr Javid, he will want to attract mainstream MPs who view him as the sensible option. Polling among Conservative voters: 21% think he would make a good leader. 44% don't. 16% are not sure and 19%don’t know enough about him. Henry Zeffman, The Times.
  • Aug.02.2018: So Jeremy Hunt is the Tories' capable one? Let's look at the evidence ... Mistaking his wife’s nationality is just the latest hapless blunder in the foreign secretary’s career. Yet No 10 is within his sights - he sought to curry favour with his hosts by mentioning his Chinese wife, but accidentally referred to her as ‘Japanese’.” Other Hunt classics include: when he accidentally pulled the emergency stop cord in a train loo; the time he posed for a photo in front of an entire whiteboard of confidential patient records, which he then tweeted; and that glorious moment when he almost decapitated a woman when ringing a bell. presented with a giant, gold penis for being “Dick of the Year”, and was given an 8ft mock-up of a “statistics for dummies” book by a group of junior doctors. There’s the time Hunt oversaw the installation of a £44,000 bathroom suite. Undermined an entire generation of NHS staff, pretty much ignoring what the Red Cross deemed a “humanitarian crisis” in our hospitals, and spending his Saturdays with a megaphone shouting: “WHY AREN’T YOU AT WORK?” into the faces of passersby. He became the longest-serving health secretary – although smugly tweeting the Twainesque “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” after clinging to his job when people were dying in hospital corridors, did not, I would suggest, strike the right tone. Hannah Jane Parkinson, The Guardian.
  • Jun.26.2018: Company co-founded by Jeremy Hunt broke law. Restructuring of Hotcourses reduced health secretary’s tax bill by about £100,000. A company co-founded by Jeremy Hunt breached company law before carrying out a restructuring designed to reduce the health secretary’s tax bill by about £100,000. Hotcourses, which was at the time majority-owned by Hunt, failed to file crucial documents with Companies House for over three years, when the law says they must be filed within 15 days. It was reported in 2012 that Hunt reduced his potential tax bill by around £100,000 by moving an office building out of the educational listings company before a change to the dividend rate. The Hotcourses’ mistake is a further embarrassment for the health secretary, who recently had to apologise after being investigated by the standards commissioner for failing to report ownership of seven flats in Southampton through a company (ref). Hunt has admitted breaching money-laundering rules brought in by his government, having failed to declare his 50% interest in the property firm to Companies House. As has been previously reported, Hunt and his business partner, Mike Elms, transferred an office building in 2010 worth £1.8m out of Hotcourses and into their own names. They then immediately started renting the building back to the company. The March 2010 transfer took place just before the tax rate for the transaction rose to 42.5% at the beginning of April 2010. By paying themselves the building as a dividend before the change in tax rules, the two men saved themselves an income tax bill of around £200,000 on the deal. Hunt stopped being a director of Hotcourses in 2009 but remained the largest shareholder in the company. Grunberg said it was the responsibility of the directors to file the documents. Hunt co-founded Hotcourses in 1990. In 2017, the company was sold for £30.1m to IDP Education, a Melbourne-based student placement company that co-owns the popular IELTS English language proficiency test. The sale netted Hunt around £14.5m, which made him one of the richest Conservative MPs. In the MPs’ register of interests, Hunt also declares a half-ownership of a house in Italy. Hunt’s shares have been held in a blind trust since he became a cabinet minister in 2010. ... Holly Watt, Amelia Hill, The Guardian.
  • Apr.13.2018: PM among cabinet members earning money as landlords. The 82-flat luxury block was developed by Nicolas James Group, a south coast property company owned and chaired by businessman and Conservative donor Nicolas James Roach. Roach has made more than £50,000 in donations to Hunt’s South West Surrey constituency office since 2011, mostly in the form of the complimentary venue hire. Hunt and Roach were pictured together in 2011 at a party to launch a £60m hotel partly developed by Roachs’ company in Guildford, which is in Hunt’s Surrey constituency. Rob Davies, Daelainn Barr, Rajeev Syal, The Guardian.
  • Apr.18.2018: Jeremy Hunt investigated over luxury flats purchase. Kathryn Stone, parliament’s commissioner for standards, received a complaint about Hunt on Fri.Apr.13. Hunt is now under investigation. Hunt failed to register for 5 months. When the registration documents were filed in Sept.2017 only Hunt’s wife was named. He also breached the Companies Act, which requires anyone with more than 25% control of a company to be declared “a person with significant control”. The 82-flat luxury block was developed by a property company owned by Conservative donor Nicolas James Group, owned and chaired by businessman and Conservative donor Nicolas James Roach. Each flat in the development is worth between £450,000 and £1m. Roach has made more than £50,000 in donations to Hunt’s South West Surrey constituency office since 2011, mostly in the form of the complimentary venue hire. Hunt and Roach were pictured together in 2011 at a party to launch a £60m hotel partly developed by Roachs’ company in Guildford, which is in Hunt’s Surrey constituency. Rajeev Syal, Rob Davies, The Guardian.
  • Apr.13.2018: Jeremy Hunt referred to MPs' standards watchdog over luxury flats error. Jon Trickett, the shadow cabinet office minister who made referral. Hunt is said to have a personal fortune of at least £14m after the sale of an education business, Hotcourses. Hunt’s company bought seven flats in Ocean Village. Hunt set up Mare Pond Properties Ltd with his wife, Lucia Guo. But when the registration documents were filed in Sept.2017 only his wife was named, constituting a breach of regulations. He also breached the Companies Act, which requires anyone with more than 25% control of a company to be declared “a person with significant control”. The referral to parliamentary standards comes because House of Commons regulations require all MPs to register any holding larger than 15% within 28 days.
    In 2012, when he was culture secretary in the coalition govt, Hunt got into trouble after emails emerged at the Leveson inquiry showing that behind the scenes he was privately supporting News Corporation's attempts to take full control of BSkyB. As culture secretary, he was meant to be acting in an impartial “quasijudicial” way. He was accused of being a “cheerleader” for the Murdoch empire and of having a cosy relationship with its executives. His special adviser, Adam Smith, was forced to quit over emails revealing the close contacts between Hunt’s office and News Corp while the firm was bidding to take over BSkyB. The inquiry also revealed dozens of often chatty text messages between Hunt and a News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel, which caused further embarrassment. Anne Perkins, The Guardian. See also Bulk discount on 7 flats
  • Apr.13.2018: 'Honest mistake': Jeremy Hunt sorry for failure to declare buying luxury flats. Jeremy Hunt has apologised after it was discovered he made errors over the purchase of luxury flats on England’s south coast. Hunt said his failure to declare a business interest with both Companies House and the Parliamentary Register of MPs Interests was down to “honest administrative mistakes” and that he did not gain financially as a result. Hunt failed to notify Companies House of his 50% interest in Mare Pond Properties Ltd – something which took him 6 months to rectify. He also did not inform the Register of his share in the business within the 28-day time limit. Hunt set up the company with his wife Lucia Guo to buy 7 properties in the Ocean Village development in Southampton on Feb.07. Press Association, The Guardian. See also The Telegraph, and The Guardian

2017

  • Oct.03.2017: Jeremy Hunt tries to claim Tories created NHS - Jon Ashworth calls him out. Jeremy Hunt has been called out for trying to rewrite history at the Conservative Party Conference after he claimed that the Tories were responsible for the creation of the National Health Service. The Secretary of State for Health played a clip from 1944 when the NHS was founded, insinuating that it was the Conservatives that had created it. But the Tories fought it “tooth and nail” all the way through Parliament on a 3-line whip and voted against the creation of the NHS 22 times including at the Third Reading. Jon Ashworth said: “Jeremy Hunt’s claim the Tories created the NHS is laughable." (Video clip of Hunt climaing this.) Benjamin Jenkins, The London Economic.
  • Oct.02.2017: Iain Dale’s 100 most influential people on the Right 2017. Secretary of State for Health. A quieter year for Jeremy Hunt, which is always a good thing for a Conservative minister in the Department for Health. His priority is to ensure that the A&E crisis of last winter isn’t repeated this year. It’s only 8 months until he surpasses Aneurin Bevan as the longest-serving Health Secretary in history. Quite an achievement for a Conservative. Conservative Home, Iain Dale
  • Jun.27.2017: Jeremy Hunt accused of cover up and conflict of interest in lost NHS patients records scandal. Hundreds of thousands of confidential patient records contracted to be looked after by a company half-owned by Jeremy Hunt’s Department for Health and half owned by French company Sopra Steria were found dumped in a warehouse, potentially risking the health of thousands of NHS patients. Jon Ashworth wrote a piece warning the public about the implications of the govt’s new health strategy revealed in leaked documents last week which threatens draconian cuts to treatment provision, leading to more privatisation. “You may not have heard of this new NHS “Capped Expenditure Process” but you soon could very well be affected. They mean reductions and rationing of NHS services, waiting times lengthening and a postcode lottery for your healthcare,” wrote the Labour MP. The NAO released a damning report from its investigation into how NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) failed so scandalously in their contract for the privatised processing of clinical correspondence. In Mar.2016 NHS SBS informed NHS England and the Department of Health that it had discovered a backlog of approximately 435,000 items of unprocessed clinical and other correspondence. ... Hunt is a board member of Shared Business Services ... Ben Gelblum, The London Economic.

2016

  • Oct.03.2016: Iain Dale’s 100 most influential people on the Right. Secretary of State for Health. Hunt has had a difficult year with the junior doctors and it was thought May would move him. And if it hadn’t been for Stephen Crabb resigning, she undoubtedly would have. Hunt was brought in to the Health job to calm the NHS after the Lansley reforms. He achieved that in the short term, but his task now must surely be to do it all over again. Conservative Home, Iain Dale
  • May.12.2016: Jeremy Hunt claimed 27p in expenses for half-mile car journey. Hunt made two claims of 27p for two 0.6-mile journeys made in his consituency last year. The Independent, Doug Bolton
  • Feb.12.2016: Jeremy Hunt – Timeline of Incompetence & Shame. In normal circumstances, openly calling for the dismantling of the NHS would usually exclude someone from being put in charge of it. Not in Theresa May’s cabinet. In 2009 – before he became Secretary of State for Health – Jeremy Hunt co-wrote a book in which he called for the NHS to be broken up... Tom Pride, Pride's Purge.

2012

  • Oct.14.2012: Will Murdoch move backfire on top Tory? ... her controversial predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, who considered it appropriate to act as the Murdoch empire’s Cabinet cheerleader, writing a pleading letter to the Prime Minister urging him to back the tycoon’s hugely contentious (and eventually unsuccessful) BSkyB takeover bid. Hunt’s department had become sickeningly close to News Corporation through inappropriate contact between his special adviser, Special Advisers#Adam Smith, and the Murdoch company. There were an incredible 191 calls, 158 emails and 1,056 texts between a News Corp lobbyist and Hunt’s office during the time the £8 billion takeover was being considered. Andrew Pierce, The Mail Online.
  • Sept.09.2012: Jeremy Hunt is criticised for his role in £650m Virgin Care hospital deal. New health secretary stepped in to speed up private takeover of NHS services in his Surrey constituency. Hunt, who replaced Andrew Lansley in last week's cabinet reshuffle, was so concerned by a delay to the £650m deal earlier this year that he asked for assurances from NHS Surrey officials that it would be swiftly signed. Virgin Care, which is part-owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, subsequently agreed on a 5-year contract in March to run 7 hospitals along with dentistry services, sexual health clinics, breast cancer screening and other community services. The takeover took place despite concerns being raised in the local NHS risk register about the impact on patient care following the transfer of management from the NHS to one of the country's largest private healthcare firms, until recently known as Assura Medical. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said this would add to concerns about Hunt's appointment and his affinity to big business so soon after the furore over the minister's relationship with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp while he was culture secretary during the attempted takeover of BSkyB. "Yet again Jeremy Hunt bent over backwards for powerful private interests. Never before has a health secretary handed over his local NHS lock, stock and barrel to the private sector." Daniel Boffey, The Guardian.

2005

  • Jun.07.2005: DIRECT DEMOCRACY: An Agenda for a New Model Party. Conflicts of interest for Jeremy Hunt. The book sets out an alternative vision for a dismantled NHS. It says: "The NHS was designed over half a century ago, at a time of rationing and deep poverty. It was, and remains, a child of its time, conceived on the principle that the beneficent state should be a monopoly provider. But we know today that monopolies rarely act in the best interests of consumers. Because govt both funds and provides health care, medical professionals are beset with political targets and central direction, distorting clinical priorities and preventing innovation. We should fund patients, either through the tax system or by way of universal insurance, to purchase health care from the provider of their choice. The poor and unemployed would have their contributions supplemented or paid for by the state." See p.100 for author list. Direct.Democracy.co.uk.

To Research

  • He co-wrote a book about denationalisation of NHS in 2005, then introduced the Health & Care Act in 2012, reneging all responsibility for the NHS. The Tories have been systematically dismantling the NHS for a good number of years and getting away with it! @Elle49
  • This is the same @Jeremy_Hunt with links to US healthcare system Kaiser Permanente pictured below with them. (screenshot) @RedsFan
  • MPs Expenses Scandal: he spent 44,000 on having a private bathroom installed at his penthouse office.