Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt is a British politician serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2012, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2012 to 2018, and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Surrey since 2005.
The son of a senior officer in the Royal Navy, Hunt was born in Kennington and studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005, and was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Disabled People and later as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Hunt served in the Coalition Government as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2012, where he led the drive for local TV, resulting in Ofcom awarding local TV broadcasting licences in respect of several cities and towns. Hunt also oversaw the 2012 London Olympics, which received widespread acclaim. His previous business interests have seen him become one of the richest members of parliament.
Hunt served as Secretary of State for Health, later Health and Social Care, from 2012 to 2018. He served under both the Cameron premiership and May premiership and became the longest-serving Health Secretary in British political history on 3 June 2018. During his tenure, he oversaw the imposition of a controversial new junior doctors' contract in England after a dispute in which junior doctors undertook multiple strikes; the first such industrial action for 40 years.
Following the resignation of Boris Johnson over the Chequers Agreement, Hunt was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in July 2018. He was a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership election in 2019, finishing second to Johnson, getting 33.6% of the members' vote to Johnson's 66.4%. He resigned, effective immediately, following Johnson's appointment as Prime Minister, having declined an invitation to serve in Johnson's first ministry as Secretary of State for Defence. He served as Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee from 2020 to 2022, a promiment role due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Johnson's resignation on 5 July 2022, Hunt launched a second Conservative leadership bid. However, he was eliminated in the first ballot round on 13 July after not getting the required 30 votes from Conservative MPs, getting 18 instead. On 14 October 2022, Hunt was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Liz Truss, following the dismissal of Kwasi Kwarteng.
