Sunak Says Jeremy Hunt Will Be UK Chancellor at General Election

Kitty Donaldson
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

(Bloomberg) -- Rishi Sunak said Jeremy Hunt will still be the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer at the general election expected in the second half of the year, in an apparent attempt to quash rumors he could be moved aside in favor of a close ally of the prime minister, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Hunt, who was brought in to calm the financial markets during Liz Truss’s disastrous premiership, faces a battle to hold onto his parliamentary district of South West Surrey, which is a target for the resurgent Liberal Democrats. That has led to a flurry of speculation that Hunt may choose to step down rather than suffer a high-profile defeat on election night, or that he may step down as a Cabinet minister to focus on campaigning to keep his seat.

An accompanying rumor is that Sunak plans to replace Hunt to promote someone more amenable to aggressive tax cuts before the election, given Hunt’s conservative reputation for fiscal responsibility. The focus has fallen on Coutinho, who would have the added advantage for the Conservatives of becoming the UK’s first female chancellor, thereby depriving Rachel Reeves of that accolade if the opposition Labour Party wins as expected.

But Sunak was unequivocal when asked whether Hunt would remain in his role. “Yes,” he told reporters during a visit to Buckinghamshire on Monday. “What’s more substantively important is what the chancellor is doing,” he said, adding that Hunt had “managed the economy responsibly over the last year,” meaning “that we can start cutting people’s taxes.”

While speculation about Hunt’s future had been gathering steam in recent weeks, there was also a clear counterargument — that replacing him as chancellor would have undermined Sunak’s recent political messaging about staying the course and that voters should see “the plan is working.”

Still, regardless of Sunak’s comments on Monday, Hunt faces a major battle to hold onto his seat. He has a majority of 8,817 in South West Surrey, within range of the Liberal Democrats following their gain of almost 30% when the seat was last contested in 2019. Hunt is seen as a prime candidate for a so-called Portillo moment, named after Tory Cabinet minister Michael Portillo’s defeat in 1997 that became a symbol of Labour’s landslide general election win.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.