Following the sacking of Kwarsi Kwarteng this morning, Liz Truss has now appointed Jeremy Hunt as the UK’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr Hunt becomes the UK’s fourth Chancellor in a year, following on from Kwarsi Kwarteng, Nadhim Zahawi, and Rishi Sunak.
Prior to his appointment in the Cabinet, Mr Hunt served as the Culture Secretary and Health Secretary under David Cameron. He was then appointed Foreign Secretary under Theresa May.
Hunt is therefore well-known to the public with 84% of respondents saying they have heard of him through YouGov polls.
Featured
The new Patron of the BASC is HRH The Princess Royal
Featured
Nick wins the fourth BASC.410 World Championships title
However, Mr Hunt is not always well-respected by the public. The same YouGov indicators suggest that only 16% of respondents like him, 44% dislike him, and 24% have a neutral opinion.
Before entering politics Mr Hunt was a successful publisher entrepreneur.
Mr Hunt has twice stood as a Conservative leader. Boris Johnson beat Hunt to second place in 2019, but he failed to advance beyond the initial ballots for MPs in 2022.
Mr Hunt is widely seen as being on the ‘One Nation’ wing of the Conservative party. Liz Truss views his appointment as a way to consolidate her position and strengthen relationships within the parliamentary Conservative Party.
Reprezenting Surrey South West, Mr Hunt would easily lose his seat to Liberal Democrats in any election today. This once safe part of Surrey has become increasingly marginal in recent years, not least as ‘Remain’ supporting voters from London have moved into the area.
