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LONDON — Lurching erratically from economic to political crisis and back again, Britain has called for its very own ‘Super Mario.’
Jeremy Hunt is the staid — some would say dull — establishment figure suddenly pulled back into government as a counterweight to the disastrous crash and burn of Liz Truss’ now-junked economic plan.
Hunt was named chancellor — the most senior position in government, beneath the prime minister — after Truss sacked her hitherto close ally Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday.
Three years after Hunt left the Cabinet, having refused a demotion from an ascendant Boris Johnson, Tory moderation appears back in fashion.
“Hopefully what it signifies is the re-emergence of dullness,” said a weary former government aide, who worked with Hunt during his long Cabinet career.
In a hastily-arranged TV statement Monday, Hunt struck a markedly different tone from the libertarian defiance of Truss and Kwarteng. He stressed the need for “confidence and stability” in the U.K. economy and paid homage to the British state’s most important financial institutions — the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the Bank of England — in an obvious attempt to reassure markets that normality has returned.
As expected, Hunt swiftly announced the reversal of most of the key elements of Truss and Kwarteng’s tax-slashing mini-budget, which had sent the pound plummeting and borrowing costs soaring when it was presented last month.
Hunt even echoed Mario Draghi’s famous ‘whatever it takes’ line — delivered as president of the European Central Bank during the eurozone crisis of 2012 — as he pledged that the U.K. government would “make whatever tough decisions are necessary” to calm the markets.
Indeed, allies of Hunt have — perhaps optimistically — taken to referring to Hunt as ‘Jeremy Draghi,’ given the rescue job lying before him. And while the new chancellor may lack Draghi’s grand financial pedigree, it’s true that like the former ECB chief he has been drafted in to the top of government — without any vote — to dramatically change his nation’s economic course and calm the choppiest of waters.
Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London, compared the U.K. to Italy’s “dysfunctional” pattern of swinging between “incompetent right-wing populists” and “well-intentioned technocrats,” who “can’t actually seem to turn the ship around.”
Strikingly, upon taking office Hunt immediately sought to reassert the wisdom of the so-called Treasury orthodoxy which Truss and Kwarteng had purposefully set out to disrupt with their unfunded tax cuts, sidelining of the OBR and abrupt sacking of Tom Scholar, the most senior civil servant at the finance ministry.
Two long-serving Conservative MPs who have been heavily critical of Truss reached for the same word as they offered cautious praise for the decision to put “a grown-up” in charge of the economy.
The markets also responded positively both to Hunt’s appointment and his first acts as chancellor. But the task ahead of him remains daunting, given the ongoing political and economic turbulence facing the U.K., and the significant financial hole still present in the government’s plans which he has pledged to fill in a broader fiscal statement on October 31.
Close to doom
Giles Wilkes, a partner at Flint Global and former No. 10 economic adviser, said the U.K. government had been backed into a corner by the unforced errors of the mini-budget, and now had little choice but to revert to the norm.
“You should be able to take a bold step left or right without worrying you’re about to plummet to your doom,” he said of the U.K. chancellor, but “this government has now gone into such a close-to-doom position that the gravity of the Treasury orthodoxy is all it can think about.”
Plenty of Tories are skeptical that Hunt can rise to the challenge, pointing out that while he — like Truss herself — may be one of the most experienced Cabinet ministers in parliament, he had a decidedly mixed track record during his years in office.
As culture secretary, he was embroiled in scandal during NewsCorp’s proposed takeover of BSkyB, and as health secretary he fought a seemingly neverneding battle with doctors while preparing the country — by his own subsequent admission — for the wrong kind of pandemic before COVID-19 struck.
He then launched two underwhelming bids to become party leader, being roundly beaten by Boris Johnion in 2019 before becoming one of the first candidates to be eliminated from this year’s race after receiving a meagre 18 votes of support from fellow MPs.
“I don’t think he is particularly good,” a second former government aide said. “He is just doing what the Treasury wants him to do, because they’ve got into such a state.”
While fellow Tory MPs appeared willing to rally behind Hunt as he addressed the Commons for the first time Monday afternoon, many privately suggested he was only a sticking plaster for the Truss government’s wider woes and questioned how long either figure would be in their post.
One MP observed that while he thought Hunt’s appointment was the right move, it made Truss “look even more nuts” as she made U-turn after U-turn on a series of flagship policy.
The same ex-aide quoted above agreed, adding: “She signed her own death warrant the moment she appointed Hunt. Once you put someone in of such a different political opinion, you can’t even claim this is about recognizing the markets and we are back on growth. The whole thing is dead.”
Hunt for PM?
Others, however, point out that Hunt’s appointment to the number two job in government — and serving under such a weakened prime minister — has strengthened his position to the point that some would say he’s already in charge.
In a whirlwind day on Monday he made a televised statement, gave a series of broadcast interviews, answered dozens of questions in the Commons and convened a private meeting with backbench Tory MPs to settle their nerves about the change of course. Truss, by contrast, was heavily criticized for her public silence.
Paul Goodman, editor of party bible ConservativeHome, wrote: “At a stroke, Truss has bigged him up and made herself dependent on him for support. When it comes to economic policy, and much else, he is in a position to dictate terms for as long as she lasts.”
Despite his new-found power, however, Hunt insists he has no desire to succeed Truss as prime minister, should she fall.
“I rule it out,” he told Sky News on Monday evening. “Mrs Hunt rules it out. Three Hunt children rule it out.”
For the time being, however, Hunt is very much running the show.
Seb Whale contributed reporting.
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