HUNT TAKES OVER
Jeremy Hunt appointed Foreign Secretary after Boris Johnson quits in protest at Theresa May’s ‘white flags’ Brexit
JEREMY Hunt has been made the new Foreign Secretary after Boris Johnson resigned warning Theresa May the Brexit "dream is dying".
The former Remainer, who now supports leaving the EU, was the longest-ever serving Health Secretary, and had recently secured a £20billion-a-year funding boost for the NHS to mark its 70th birthday.
6
The 51-year-old MP for South West Surrey is one of the richest men in Parliament, after a successful business career.
He has previously resisted attempts to move him within Cabinet, saying he wanted to continue his work with the NHS.
In Mrs May’s last reshuffle in January he torpedoed the PM’s plans by refusing to step aside, saying he was determined to improve Britain’s social care.
But Mr Hunt has agreed to switch ministerial roles this time around, after Boris resigned with a scathing letter hitting out at the "white flags" Brexit plan agrred at Chequers last week.
Tonight Mr Hunt tweeted: “Huge honour to be appointed Foreign Secretary at this critical moment in our country’s history. Time to back our PM to get a great Brexit deal - it's now or never...”
Mr Hunt added: “Massive wrench for me to leave health - I know some staff haven’t found me the easiest Health Secretary but the NHS, and particularly patient safety, has become my passion and it really was the greatest privilege of my life to serve for so many years.
“Couldn’t ask for a better successor than Matt Hancock to take forward long term NHS plan with his brilliant understanding of the power of technology.
“The new NHS app will be in safe hands!”
6
Boris Johnson leaves Foreign Secretary's residence after resigning from Theresa May's cabinet over Brexit
6
But has often had a difficult relationship with health workers – overseeing a controversial new contract for junior doctors.
That led to a series of strikes, the first such industrial action for forty years, but Mr Hunt stuck to his guns and wanted to push through the NHS reforms.
The current Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock, has replaced him at the Department for Health.
Downing Street say the Attorney General Jeremy Wright will take over that role, and the MP Geoffrey Cox replaces him.
The PM is shuffling her Cabinet as she clings to power following a host of resignation, sparked by David Davis last night.
6
Former Secretary of State David Davis says Boris Johnson shouldn't have quit as Foreign Secretary
The Brexit Secretary stood down two days after the crunch Chequers summit, saying he thought the plan Theresa May had made the Cabinet sign off on was “giving too much away, too easily”, and calling it “a dangerous strategy”.
He said he had to step down as it would be his job for forcing the PM’s proposal through the Commons, adding: "That's not a tenable position for somebody who believes in Brexit."
He was replaced by Dominic Raab this lunchtime, but Mrs May was left an even bigger hole to fill when Mr Johnson quit this afternoon.
The Foreign Secretary had not appeared in public since Friday’s Cabinet away-day to discuss the deal they had signed off, sparking fears he was unhappy with the plan and could resign.
6
6
MOST READ IN POLITICS:
He confirmed he was leaving in a withering letter to the PM, saying that under her the Brexit "dream is dying".
And plunging her further into a leadership crisis, he said she is waving the "white flags" in talks with Brussels.
In response to Mr Hunt's move to replace Mr Johnson, Labour’s shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “Jeremy Hunt has overseen the worst collapse in patient standards of any Health Secretary in the history of the NHS.
“His time in charge will be remembered for soaring waiting lists, huge staffing shortages, and patients left with treatments rationed and operations cancelled in record numbers.
“It is an astonishing measure of the meltdown at the heart of the Tory Government that this catalogue of failure is rewarded with promotion rather than the sack.”
Topics