A political party that enjoys universal approval has not yet emerged, and this is perfectly normal. However, the current situation in the United Kingdom shows an extremely low level of trust, not only in Prime Minister Boris Johnson but in the political elite as a whole. According to a survey published on February 15, 2022, as many as 73% of citizens have a negative attitude towards what is happening in the country. Both the Conservative and Labor parties are blamed, the first due to the revelations that came out of Partygate and the inability to deal with a number of problems, and the other because of the failure to provide an adequate and foreseeable alternative.
Such an unstable situation cannot stay for long and inevitably leads to major changes. This gives a bailiwick of leading figures in the Conservative Party because, unlike other countries, the UK does not need to hold elections to replace the Prime Minister. Now all eyes are on Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, and some other key politicians.
In recent days, however, the opinion has crept in that it is not impossible for Boris Johnson to make off once again and hold his position at least until the 2024 general elections. To gain a significant polling boost, the PM must actively participate in the negotiations to force Russia to give up invading Ukraine and hope for a positive solution. This option, however, is still too vague. Despite neither of the rivals of Mr. Johnson having explicitly presented his candidature, political analysts and online bookmakers provide predictions on his possible successor. Among the names with noteworthy betting odds is Jeremy Hunt, the ex-Foreign Secretary who once faced the current PM but lost the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
Staying Close to People
Although being described as not the most charismatic British politician, Jeremy Hunt manages to counterpoise his classic and somewhat conservative nature by holding multiple informal meetings with UK citizens at their workplaces, in residential areas, and even in parks. The personal Twitter profile of Mr. Hunt is full of short stories about the people he has talked to, often promoting coffee shops, bakeries, and other small local businesses.
Great to see the @TheCookieBar in Hindhead open again following their recent renovation works. The place looks fantastic and food & coffee delicious as always. If you’re in SWS, do pop by! #localspotlight #cookiebaruk #bouncebackswsurrey pic.twitter.com/M3d34YOqqu
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) February 10, 2022
For Jeremy Hunt to be a popular political figure contributes the fact that he currently operates in a very sensitive field, that of disabled people policies as he is Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee. On February 10th, the Farnham Herald published an article by Mr. Hunt where he presents his point of view regarding the SEN (special educational needs) package and the sluggishness of the relevant procedures. “At any rate these families – under such huge pressure anyway – should not have to get into a court fight to get care they desperately need.”
The fact that he is almost constantly present in the media simply means that many British citizens know him, but not all of them like him, of course. According to a constantly updated survey by YouGov, 86% of the interviewed participants have heard of Mr. Hunt with 18% having a particularly positive opinion about him.
Jeremy Hunt’s Road to Being PM Candidate
To assess well the chances of Jeremy Hunt becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, let’s take a look at his career so far and how he has coped with the challenges over the years.
Education
From an early age, Mr. Hunt seems to be doing carefully thought-out things to prepare himself for a future leadership position in politics. His education, for instance, has always been connected to elite British institutions. First, he went to the Charterhouse School in Godalming established in 1611. Even then, he showed his leadership ambitions by becoming a Head of School which means he was a representative of the entire student body.
Jeremy Hunt’s future field of development becomes clear from the next step of his education. Mr. Hunt was admitted to one of the most respected universities in the world, the one in Oxford where he studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. While in the university, he gradually got involved in Conservative politics with David Cameron and Boris Johnson being his contemporaries. In 1987 Jeremy Hunt was elected to serve as president of the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA).
Career
Before devoting himself entirely to the political scene in the UK, Mr. Hunt gained experience working as a management consultant for about two years. Then he went to Japan where he was a teacher in English and at the same time learned the local language. After the Asian adventure came to an end Jeremy Hunt went back to his home country first establishing a public relations company that was followed by an educational publishing business. The latter had the British Council as one of its major clients.
In 2009, when he was already a significant figure in the country’s political life, Mr. Hunt resigned as director of the company but retained his shares until 2017. Тhe business was later sold for millions of British pounds thus making him one of the richest Conservative party members. Although this is generally a positive event in Jeremy Hunt’s life, it carries the risk of UK citizens not to perceive him as one of them due to the huge income gap. However, Mr. Hunt brings forward the issue as proof of him being in politics not out of personal interest but to give his best for the prosperity of the country. In a frank interview with Jason Cowley, he says: “I’m not someone who just wants to be in roles for the sake of it. I want to change things… But, you know, I’ll put it this way: what I’m really interested in is what people say five years after I’ve left a job, not when I’m doing it, because that’s the real test of whether you’ve changed anything.”
The diversity of Jeremy Hunt’s political experience is evident from the positions he has held over the years.
- 2005 – 2007 – Shadow Minister for Disabled People
- 2007 – 2010 – Shadow Culture Secretary
- 2010 – 2012 – Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
- 2012 – 2018 – Secretary of State for Health
- 2018 – 2019 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- 2020 – Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee
The post of Shadow Minister for Disabled People is determined by many political commentators as a reward for the support Mr. Hunt showed for David Cameron in the elections for the Conservative party leadership. One of his achievements from that period is persuading the BBC to increase the amount of subtitling within its programmes. It was 2005-2007 when his work towards simplification of benefits acquiring procedures began.
But it wasn’t until Jeremy Hunt became Secretary of State for Health that he established himself as a key player on the political scene. Mr. Hunt is the longest-serving health secretary of the UK, also being a president of the state-run National Health Service (NHS). Those years were very hard since they followed the slowest period of investment in the NHS. Hunt had to proceed with a series of aggressive and unpopular reforms aimed at boosting the institution’s budget, improving the level of staff competence, and lowering waiting times.
Nevertheless, the greatest challenge in front of the Health Secretary were the junior doctors’ contract and strikes. His proposal working at night and on weekends not to be subject to overtime payment was met with massive opposition, both online (hashtag #ImInWorkJeremy) and onsite (walkouts).
UK Junior doctors strike starts today https://t.co/RYVtCddlCd pic.twitter.com/LDRACT9ijj
— Medlines (@MedlinesNews) January 12, 2016
Junior doctors enjoyed impressive support by UK citizens who backed them even in days when emergency care wasn’t 100% covered. Mr. Hunt did not succumb to the persistence of the guild and unilaterally imposed the new contract after the deal was rejected by the BMA (British Medical Association) members.
In 2018, Boris Johnson decided to abandon the sinking ship of Theresa May’s cabinet where he was replaced by Hunt on the post of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. From this period is one of the few public blunders of the politician. During an official visit to China, he wrongfully named the nationality of his wife Lucia Guo who was born in Xian, China. According to USA Today, the exact words were “My wife is Japanese – my wife is Chinese. That’s a terrible mistake to make”.
Who is Jeremy Hunts wife? Foreign Secretarys wife Lucia Guo revealed after gaffe https://t.co/zN7uwRchYP pic.twitter.com/NgPJ5VAnBR
— Zesty China News (@zesty_china) August 1, 2018
Another very famous quote from Mr. Hunt relates to an important aspect of UK foreign policy in 2018-2019, namely that Saudi Arabia is a “very, very important military ally”. He endorsed the Saudi Arabian military intervention in Yemen and rejected exhortations to terminate the UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The expression “born-again Brexiteer” which has gained particular popularity in recent years, excellently reflects Hunt’s position on the issue. In the 2016 referendum, he voted for Britain to remain in the European Union but now he is convinced the withdrawal must occur even by all means if necessary. What is interesting here is that Jeremy Hunt backed Boris Jonson in this regard in January 2022 by saying “we have to give Boris great credit” for his successes with securing a Brexit deal (PoliticsHome.Com).
Will Jeremy Hunt Be UK’s Next Prime Minister Betting Odds
Who will succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is one of the hottest political events punters can bet on. Fortunately for them, there is an abundance of reputable online bookmakers that have published their predictions and already accept wagers. Bookies are almost unanimous on the chances of Jeremy Hunt becoming the next PM with odds of between 8.0 and 9.0. Only SBK offers a significantly different coefficient, namely 11.5 (at the time of writing).
| Odds Of Jeremy Hunt Becoming the Next Prime Minister of the UK | |
|---|---|
| Bookmaker | Odds |
| Bet365 | 9.0 |
| Betfair | 8.0 |
| Ladbrokes | 9.0 |
| William Hill | 9.0 |
| Paddy Power | 8.0 |
| BetVictor | 8.0 |
| Coral | 9.0 |
| Unibet | 8.0 |
| MansionBet | 8.0 |
| SBK | 11.5 |
So far, these results give Jeremy Hunt third place, behind Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, but ahead of the Labour Party leader Keir Starmer. The latter appears to be one of the trickiest figures since his odds of winning range between 7.0 and 10.0 which is a relatively wide range. This discrepancy is probably due to the fact that the earliest possible moment when he can become Prime Minister is 2024 but there is quite a long time until then.
| Main Rivals of Jeremy Hunt for the Position of UK Prime Minister | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rishi Sunak | Liz Truss | Keir Starmer | Tom Tugendhat | Penny Mordaunt | |
| Bet365 | 2.5 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 |
| Betfair | 2.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 11.0 |
| Ladbrokes | 2.63 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 |
| William Hill | 2.5 | 7.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 13.0 |
| Paddy Power | 2.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 11.0 |
| BetVictor | 2.38 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 |
| Coral | 2.63 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 13.0 |
| Unibet | 2.28 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 11.0 |
| MansionBet | 2.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | N/A | 13.0 |
| SBK | 3.4 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 14.0 | 15.0 |
- Author
Harry Evans
