Jeremy Hunt, one of the faces of the One Nation Conservative camp within the Tory party, is the new chancellor under a Liz Truss government.
Ideologically they may see eye to eye on keeping corporation tax low – Hunt told Sky’s Sophy Ridge in July he not only wanted the tax not to rise but he wanted it slashed further – but Hunt is by no means seen as an obvious bedfellow for the prime minister.
For example, health secretary, Hunt was in favour of banning junk food adverts before 9 pm as part of a push to reduce childhood obesity. This policy was never implemented, however, as it was seen as a ‘nanny-state’ policy. This is just one example to suggest that these two heavy hitters could end up falling out.
Will Liz Truss’s libertarian instincts put her at loggerheads with her new chancellor? Or will the ideological differences between them make for a more balanced dialogue around the cabinet table?
Strategically, Truss will be hoping that appointing Hunt will assuage Tory anger and bring back the One Nation MPs out for blood. But Hunt inspires a lukewarm reaction (at best), even among sympathetic MPs.
Firstly, he was not even able to gain enough support from fellow MPs in the latest leadership race to make it past the first round of voting.
Secondly, one former cabinet minister told me: “He brings no one with him” and is “yesterday’s man”. Another former minister pleased with the hire said they were happy but not excited, and that it made little difference to Truss’s life expectancy as prime minister: “She cannot reassert her authority after this. It’s over.”
Although sacking Kwasi Kwarteng may look like a sign of strength from Truss, she has now amputated her own political right arm, making her life ten times harder.
Kwarteng and Truss were seen as ideological soulmates, something mirrored in Truss’s letter to her former chancellor where she said: “We share the same vision for our country”.
And now rebellious Tory backbenchers know the lady is for turning, she will be pulled in every which way by the increasingly divided factions of her chaotic party until she is ripped apart beyond repair.
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Source:Skynews