Jeremy Hunt, 59, is a Conservative MP for Godalming and Ash, and was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005. He went on to be the UK’s longest-serving health secretary from (2012-2018) and chancellor of the exchequer, also overseeing the London Olympics as culture secretary. Born in Kennington, he studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, before later becoming an English teacher in Japan and then an entrepreneur, co-founding the Hotcourses education publisher.
When the business was sold in 2017, he made millions and would go on to be one of the UK’s richest politicians. He was a candidate for the leadership election in 2019, finishing second to Boris Johnson. Hunt has just published his third book, Can We Be Rich Again? The Surprising Potential of Britain’s Economy, and lives between Pimlico in London, and Surrey, with his wife Lucia and three children, Jack, Anna and Eleanor (11, 14 and 15).
Here, he looks back at the moments that shaped him, from his very optimistic mother, the pressure of public life on his family, and the grief of losing his brother.
Shorts
I’ve had several near-death experiences in terms of my political career. Things have very nearly gone badly wrong, and I don’t think you can survive those things unless you have an inner optimism and are prepared to see the positives. If you read books by psychologists and life coaches, very often the way that you find optimism or get yourself out of depression is by getting a sense of perspective. I have a magic moment in my morning when I go for a run – although I don’t go every morning now, because I’m going to be 60, so I should think about my knees. I don’t listen to music or podcasts; I just allow my mind to wander, and I find that’s a really good moment for just stepping back and trying to take a helicopter view of myself, my life and the world. To have that sense of proper perspective.
