Who is Jeremy Hunt – Queen’s fifth cousin who launched marmalade export agency

Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will take centre stage as he delivers the Budget in a determined bid to show round his occasion’s fortunes.

He is anticipated to announce a string of tax cuts as sweetener – sparking fears that public providers will undergo. Rishi Sunak’s right-hand man was first introduced into No11 by Liz Truss to regular the ship after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked.

Rishi Sunak retained his providers when he changed her as PM, entrusting him with delivering an Autumn Statement that undid lots of the worst excesses of Ms Truss’ time in No10. The centre-right Chancellor is considered as a protected pair of fingers in Tory circles – however voters with an extended reminiscence will recall him being declared essentially the most disliked frontline politician in 2016. That doubtful gong got here throughout his time as Health Secretary, when the NHS was hampered by walkouts by junior medical doctors.

The multi-millionaire, who has confronted questions previously about his possession of luxurious flats (extra on that beneath), is one thing of a survivor and has served in Cabinet beneath 4 Prime Ministers – David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Here’s what it is advisable know in regards to the man who holds the purse strings.

Aristocratic son of Navy commander and relation of late Queen

Mr Hunt, the son of former Navy commander Admiral Sir Nicolas Hunt, has deep roots within the English aristocracy. He is a descendant of Sir Streynsham Master, a pioneer of the East India Company – which led the way in which to British rule of India.

It emerged that Mr Hunt was a distant relative of the late Queen – her fifth cousin in actual fact, which means that they had the identical great-great-great-great-grandparents. He can be a distant relation of Sir Oswald Mosley, who led the British Union of Fascists within the Nineteen Thirties.

Mr Hunt was educated at non-public college Charterhouse earlier than heading to Oxford University to check philosophy, politics and economics. Both David Cameron and Boris Johnson have been there on the identical time, and it was right here that he turned concerned in Tory politics.

Businessman who tried to export marmalade to Japan

Before changing into an MP in 2005, Mr Hunt tried his hand at quite a lot of enterprise ventures with combined success. He frolicked in Japan working as an English trainer earlier than returning to the UK and beginning a string of companies.

These included one targeted on exporting marmalade to Japan. He later wrote: “When I started out, nearly everything I tried was a total failure. My business partner and I tried exporting marmalade to Japan – which flopped. We tried building children’s playgrounds – that failed.

“We tried to run a enterprise establishing guides for overseas vacationers – that folded too. Eventually we hit on one thing that labored – we began publishing scholar guides to assist folks discover the fitting faculty or college.”

Alongside childhood pal Mike Elms, he founded PR firm Profile PR and another called Hotcourses, which was sold for over £30 million in 2017.

Most unpopular minister after turbulent spell as Health Secretary

Mr Hunt was elected to Parliament in 2005 as MP for South West Surrey. He got his first cabinet job in the Coalition Government led by David Cameron, being appointed as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport in 2010.

Two years later he became Health Secretary – going on to become the longest-serving frontbencher ever to hold the post. But his time in charge of the nation’s health was far from smooth. Mr Hunt was accused of enabling “again door privatisation” of the NHS and faced backlash for his handling of the junior doctor contract row, which saw junior doctors take part in a series of walkouts in 2016. Under his leadership, A&E departments also failed to meet their waiting time targets consistently.

A YouGov poll in February 2016 found that voters viewed him the most unpopular senior politician, beating George Osborne, Jeremy Corbyn, and David Cameron.

In July 2018, Mr Hunt was appointed Foreign Secretary. One of his most memorable gaffes came just days into the job when he told an audience in China: “My spouse is Japanese – my spouse is Chinese. Sorry, that is a horrible mistake to make.”

He quit the Cabinet when Boris Johnson became PM in 2019 after refusing to accept a move to Defence Secretary. Instead, he became Chairman of the Commons Health Committee in 2020 and reinvented himself as a staunch critic of the Government’s handling of the pandemic.

Failed Tory leadership bids

Mr Hunt has twice thrown his name in the hat for the top job, following the resignations of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. He made it to the final two to succeed Mrs May in 2019 but was trounced in the final round by Mr Johnson.

When his former rival’s premiership finally collapsed last year, Mr Hunt decided to have another tilt at the Tory leadership. But he was eliminated from the race after the very first round of voting by Tory MPs. Liz Truss went on to win the contest but lasted just 49 days in No10 after triggering market chaos with her economic plans.

Appointment as Chancellor

Mr Hunt returned from the wilderness last year when crisis-hit Ms Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng in an attempt to restore stability following the calamitous mini Budget. In a mark of the political chaos, he was the fourth person to be Chancellor in 2022 – after Rishi Sunak, caretaker Nadhim Zahawi and Mr Kwarteng.

Within hours of entering No11, Mr Hunt got to work undoing the mayhem he’d inherited. He delivered an Autumn Statement in November which completely dismantled Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng’s economic experiment – and resisted clamours for tax cuts from Tory backbenchers.

Battling sky-high inflation became one of the Government’s top priorities this year, pushing Mr Hunt to the fore as he

Controversial luxury flat purchases

Mr Hunt spent £3.56million on a controversial purchase of seven luxury flats to rent out, it emerged in 2019. The previous year he was forced to apologise for failing to declare his part-ownership of a firm that bought the seaside properties in Southampton.

Documents just made public on the Land Registry reveal Mare Pond Properties, set up with his wife, paid £437,000 for the cheapest flat, while the most expensive was £685,000. Mr Hunt faced a probe after failing to declare it in the Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests on time, or with Companies House.

Cancer diagnosis and investment fight

The Chancellor was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2022 but said he was “blessed” that it was caught and treated early after the discovery of a mole on his head. Mr Hunt has been campaigning for investment to stamp out the disease after both his parents and his brother died from cancer.

His father, Royal Navy admiral Sir Nicholas Hunt, died in 2013 aged 82, while Lady Meriel Hunt died in 2022, aged 84. His brother Charlie died in August after being diagnosed with sarcoma in 2020.