Jeremy Hunt and his family were on a lengthy vacation in Belgium. He accompanied his 44-year-old wife Lucia and their three young children to the lowland nation renowned for its picturesque medieval cities and as the seat of the EU Commission and European Parliament.
After a busy summer of campaigning for the Conservative leadership contest, he vowed to put work aside. So, when his phone rang early on Friday morning, displaying an unknown number, he ignored it.
However, the caller was persistent, sending Hunt a text message that made him laugh out loud. “Jeremy, this is Liz Truss, please call immediately,” read the message.
Hunt joked to his wife that it must be a joke, and he rejected it accordingly. After all, he had Truss’s phone number saved in his phone; the two had collaborated closely for almost a decade.
Unbeknownst to him, as Prime Minister, Miss Truss now utilizes many mobile phone numbers. She had, in fact, made the call, a thing that, only a few weeks prior, had been inconceivable. After suffering a humiliating defeat in the leadership contest, Jeremy Hunt had all but retired from frontline politics.
Even though he had lost to Boris Johnson in the 2019 election, the former foreign secretary had attempted again.
Jeremy Hunt is photographed rushing back from his vacation in Belgium early.
However, instead of placing second like he did in 2019, Hunt, 55, was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Out of the eight candidates who made it to the ballot, Hunt received the fewest votes (18) before endorsing Rishi Sunak. What a change three months can bring! For, back in Downing Street, and under pressure to respond to mounting public outrage over Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget, Truss, 47, decided Thursday night to abruptly fire her first Chancellor after only 38 days in office.
Friday morning at 1.30 a.m. local time, Kwarteng’s team was booking him on an early flight home from Washington, where he had been meeting with other global finance ministers.
He was summoned back to Westminster for what he considered to be emergency discussions with the Prime Minister. Prior to his arrival at Heathrow, Truss had already selected his replacement.
Truss, frustrated by Hunt’s lack of response, instructed her staff to phone his South West Surrey constituency office later in the morning.
Jeremy Hunt is pictured with his wife, Lucia. They were in Belgium when Liz Truss contacted and asked for assistance.
A little more than thirty minutes later, an embarrassed Hunt eventually returned the phone from the Prime Minister. I am told that he was stunned to be offered the position. His areas of competence included health and international relations, and he requested time to examine the offer. It would take him barely five minutes.
After speaking with his wife, Hunt called back to accept, albeit with a lengthy set of stipulations about the elimination of large portions of Kwarteng’s budget. The Prime Minister was easily persuaded.
Hunt, who had brought a gift of pricey Belgian chocolates for Miss Truss and was returning to London with his wife on the Eurostar at lunchtime, tweeted a provocative ‘winking face emoji’ to some of his closest pals.
Many people, including Hunt himself, assumed that his career at the forefront of British politics was ended once he was defeated in the leadership contest. There was even conjecture that he would step down at the next election, but South West Surrey Conservatives chairman Sean Donovan-Smith claims this was never the case.
He states, “Jeremy was always going to stand again.” He was also quite supportive of Liz Truss, whom he believed would make an excellent prime minister.
After Liz Truss (sitting) urged him to help save her neck, Jeremy Hunt addresses in the House of Commons.
In fact, despite having supported Sunak in the leadership race, Hunt has always been far closer to Truss than was previously believed.
After serving as cabinet colleagues from 2014 to 2019, Truss routinely consulted with Hunt after she was appointed Foreign Secretary in September 2021, a position he held under Theresa May.
Truss sought counsel from Hunt earlier this year when negotiating the release of British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from prison in Tehran.
And when she initially stayed at Chevening House, the official residence of the Foreign Secretary in Kent, she again contacted Hunt to inquire how much she should tip the domestic workers.
According to a source, “they have a fantastic rapport.” She recognizes that he is always the best-informed person in the room and admires his commitment to public service.
Sunday, when Hunt traveled to Chequers to discuss his new position, he brought his family with him.
The Hunt children (Jack, 12, Anna, 10, and Eleanor, 8) played with Truss’s adolescent girls, Liberty and Frances, while Hunt’s wife and Truss’s husband, Hugh O’Leary, 48, strolled the estate. Later, the families had a chicken roast for lunch.
It was the first time Truss and Hunt had spent significant time together since June, when they both attended a meeting on international issues in Paris.
After the conference, Truss was happy to receive a handwritten note from Hunt stating that she had been a “credit to the country.” Perhaps she recalled this act of goodwill in the early hours of Friday morning when she was searching for a new chancellor.