Although Jeremy Hunt is often depicted as a more statesman-like figure than his predecessor at the Foreign Office, the Foreign Secretary has had his fair share of gaffes. Not long into the brief, Hunt made headlines when he mistakenly identified his wife as Japanese when she is in fact Chinese. At Thursday’s Press Gallery lunch, Hunt attempted to make light of the situation – insisting that his wife has since forgiven him for the slip.
But will she forgive him for his latest error? In a Q and A with hacks at the lunch, Hunt, who is tipped as a frontrunner in any leadership race, was eager to push his Brexiteer credentials – telling those assembled that the next leader must ‘believe’ in Brexit, that he would pick ‘no deal’ over ‘no Brexit’ and ducking a question on whether he will run to replace May in a Tory leadership contest. However, the part of the Q and A that caught Mr S’s attention relates to Hunt’s children.
Asked what he made of former May adviser Nick Timothy’s claim that the Tories have no future as a metro-liberal party, Hunt said that the party needed to appeal to a wider range of voters than in 2017 if it was to win a majority. On that list are ethnic minorities and young people. In order to press that point, Hunt made reference to his children – only he seemed to struggle to work out how many he had:
‘Because of my Chinese wife, my two kids… my three kids will be ethnic minorities and young people that are the least likely to vote Conservative… It’s very important that we broaden our base of support.’
Mr S can confirm that Hunt has three, not two, children.
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