Lucky Hunt

The news this week that former Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been promoted to Health Secretary replacing Andrew Lansley has been greeted with shock up and down the country. Andrew Lansley had a less than glorious record as Health Secretary; it is no great surprise that he has been replaced. He largely followed the Conservative line and began the denationalisation of the NHS, his actions encouraged an unprecedented wave of protest by health professionals and despite his claims to the contrary the NHS is still staring blankly into a financial black hole. Lansley cannot be shocked to be replaced but he must be shocked at the man chosen to replace him. Let us make no mistake, if Jeremy Hunt had been in any other line of work he would have already been sacked. He consistently displays an incompetence that is quite frankly astounding, coupled with an intense disregard of parliamentary procedure it is remarkable that he has kept his job. In fact, not only has he kept his job he has indeed been promoted, an incredible joke all round made at the electorates expense. Jeremy Hunt is fortunate to have got this far in politics, before the scandal involving BSkyB Hunt had been involved in other dubious activites. In a Sky News interview Hunt implied that football hooliganism rather than poor policing and stewarding was the reason that 96 fans were killed in the Hillsborough disaster. For a man who has previously held the role of Culture Secretary to make a claim such as this is both incredibly insensitive and ultimately grossly incorrect. Derek Twigg MP just about got it right when he described his comments as 'a disgrace.' Like many other MP's Hunt was also embroiled in the expenses scandal. Hunt allowed his agent to live in his home in Farnham, a home funded by the tax payers. Kindly Hunt offered to pay back half of the money he wrongly claimed (roughly £9,000) this was deemed sufficient action for him to avoid losing his job. Just this year The Telegraph disclosed that Hunt has reduced his tax bill by £100,000 through a tax avoidance scheme involving his company Hotcourses. David Cameron explicitly lamented 'aggressive tax avoidance,' labeling it as 'immoral.' Clearly tax avoidance is no obstacle to being appointed to a top Cabinet position, on the other hand the NHS could soon find itself in rude financial health. Of course no profile of Hunt can be complete without a mention of the News Corp affair. There are some strong suggestions that Hunt may edit his own Wikipedia page, BSkyB and News Corp are limited to one small paragraph. Hunt was mandated to decide whether it was appropriate to allow News Corp to take over BSkyB and therefore gain a greater stake in the British media; unfortunately his relationship with News Corps owner Rupert Murdoch was too close to ensure an independent decision. The Leveson inquiry has since shown Hunt to be both a liar and unfit to make a decision regarding News Corp. Clearly a man who is fundamentally untrustworthy as well as incapable of filing tax returns correctly is an interesting choice for Health Secretary So, his past would seem to suggest that he is fundamentally unsuitable to become Health Secretary. Sadly, his plans for the future inspire little confidence that he is capable of reforming the NHS. Hunt had attempted to exclude any mention of the NHS at the Olympic opening ceremony, prompting Labour to claim that he holds the NHS in contempt. Furthermore, Hunt is known as an advocate of homeopathic medicine and is also said to be keen on reducing the limit on when abortions can take place. Two policies which seems very backwards looking indeed. Just today Hunt was booed by the crowd at the Paralympic Games, it is fair to say that those spectators speak for the nation.