Jeremy Hunt addressed The Oldie Literary Lunch at The National Liberal Club on his book Can We Be Great Again?: Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain.
Jeremy told us, “It’s enormously pleasurable to spend time writing, and when you write, you discover things about yourself you didn’t know.”
One discovery was that politics runs in his family. Hunt unearthed a surprising connection that his great-great grandfather was a Liberal MP, and a more distant relative, George Ward Hunt, was not only an MP but briefly Chancellor for Disraeli.
“He delivered one budget but forgot his speech and had to dash back to Number 11 to fetch it. MPs were furious. His successor held up the red box and shook it outside Number 11 to prove he hadn’t forgotten his speech, and that’s how the tradition began.”
The book, Hunt said, is filled with stories - some funny, some excruciating.
“It includes the worst moment of my life - when I introduced my Chinese wife as Japanese.”
Then there’s the story of how, just two days into his job as Foreign Secretary, Hunt found himself at a NATO summit with Donald Trump.
“Ask me about hospitals, I’d been Health Secretary for six years. But foreign policy? I barely knew where Syria was.”
He sat through a Syria briefing, mostly silent- until a meeting at Chequers with Theresa May and President Trump. Faced with an awkward pause, Hunt finally had the courage to speak:
“Mr President, if Assad wins the civil war, we need to think about the White Helmets.” Trump replied: “Are they good guys or bad guys?” “They’re good guys, Mr. President.” Then I had nothing left to say - completely out of runway.”
Thankfully, the British Ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, passed Jeremy a note explaining the evacuation details. Hunt read it to Trump who nodded:
“Well, if they’re good guys… we should get them out.”
Two weeks later, 98 White Helmets and 411 family members were safely evacuated.
“It’s the proudest achievement of my time as Foreign Secretary - and my proudest possession? A white builder’s helmet. All thanks to a silence from Theresa May.”
All profits from Hunt’s book go to his local hospital. “So, if you do buy it, thank you,” he said. “It’s for a good cause, and a few good stories.”
