Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is the Conservative MP for South West Surrey and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Early life

The eldest son of Nicholas Hunt, Jeremy Hunt was raised near Godalming in Surrey in the heart of the constituency that he now represents in Parliament. He still lives in the seat at Farnham.

Jeremy's father was a senior officer in the Royal Navy and he grew up in an economically-privileged family. Hunt attended Charterhouse School where he was head boy, and subsequently Magdalen College, Oxford, where he achieved a First in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). In private he later described the last year of his degree as one of the toughest in his life because of the stress imposed by his effort to obtain a First.^{[citation needed]}

Shortly after graduating he became a management consultant before resigning to become an English language teacher in Japan. Japan made a big impact on Hunt - he became a proficient speaker of Japanese and an enthusiast for modern Japanese culture. For many years, Japan, politics, his business interests, and a busy social life were Hunt's main passions.

On his return to Britain, Hunt joined Profile PR - a public relations agency specialising in IT co-founded by his childhood friend Mike Elms. With clients such as BT, Bull Integris, and Zetafax Profile did well during the IT boom of the mid 1990s. Hunt and Elms later sold their interest in Profile in order to concentrate on directory publishing. Together they founded a company now known as Hotcourses one of whose major clients is the British Council. Hotcourses also provides financial support to Hunt's parliamentary office (see House of Commons Directory of Member Interests and Directory of MPs' Research Assistants' Interests).

Member of Parliament

Jeremy Hunt was elected at the 2005 general election, after Virginia Bottomley became a life peer. He won the constituency with an increased majority of 5,711.

After supporting David Cameron's bid for leadership of the Conservative Party, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Disabled People in December 2005. He was then promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, in David Cameron's reshuffle of 2 July 2007.

He launched his own YouTube Channel in March 2008.^[1]

Political views

An ardent Tory of the same generation as David Cameron and Boris Johnson, Hunt became involved in politics during the Thatcher Years of the 1980s - a period which coincided with his time at Oxford University, where he became active in the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA).

Hunt founded a charity to help fund the education of AIDS orphans in Africa. As a result, AIDS has become one of his special areas of expertise as an MP. ^[2]

Hunt hung back for many years from putting himself forward for selection as a parliamentary candidate. When asked why, he replied that he felt that he had "not achieved enough" in the real world.^[3]

Expenses scandal

Hunt attracted incredulity and ridicule when it was revealed that he had filed an expenses claim for one penny to cover the cost of a 12-second mobile phone call.^[4].^[5]

Personal life

Hunt's wealth is estimated at £4.1m.^[6]

See also

• South West Surrey constituency

References

External links

• Jeremy Hunt's Official website
• Jeremy Hunt's biography - BBC Politics
• Meet the MP in June 2005
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Jeremy Hunt MP
• Jeremy Hunt's YouTube Channel

Audio clips

• Talking on the BBC World Service about the 2005 election campaign

Offices held