JEREMY Hunt insists he’s going nowhere — amid growing Tory claims he is on the way out after next month’s Autumn Statement.
The Chancellor’s future has been subject to weeks of Westminster speculation.
GettyJeremy Hunt insists he’s going nowhere after next month’s Autumn Statement[/caption]
There have been claims he would quit as an MP at the next election, meaning an early departure from the Treasury.
But last night his spokesman told The Sun: “He’s not resigning as Chancellor, and he’s standing in the next election.”
Mr Hunt stepped into the job at the height of the Liz Truss mini-Budget chaos last autumn, and dismantled her entire economic plans.
Ministers and MPs have been openly discussing whether PM Rishi Sunak would move him at a final reshuffle ahead of the country going to the polls next year.
There has been a growing clamour from some MPs to see “gloomy” Hunt, who they dub “Eeyore”, make way for someone more upbeat to face the voters.
One senior government figure said: “There’s definitely a story to tell there, the man who came back from retirement to calm the markets, save the country, steps aside for Rishi’s own man . . . or woman.”
MPs believe Mr Sunak would rather Pensions Secretary Mel Stride step up or could even make close ally Claire Coutinho the first female Chancellor.
They say Mr Hunt faces a tough battle against the Lib Dems in his Surrey seat that will be carved up by boundary reviews.
Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick defended Mr Hunt’s “sensible, prudent” economic decisions in response to pressure from within the party to cut taxes.
He told the BBC the first task was tackling the “great evil” of inflation.
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