Jeremy Hunt is now an all-powerful back seat driver, MPs believe

Published

3 years ago

October 17, 2022

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After his crisis talks with Liz Truss at Chequers, Jeremy Hunt was photographed being driven from the PM’s country retreat sitting in the back of a government car.

Earlier, when the new chancellor was asked in a TV interview who was in charge, him or the PM, he insisted it was her. But MPs believe Mr Hunt is now an all-powerful back seat driver.

Mr Hunt wasn’t even being driven from Chequers in a top-of-the-range Range Rover as befits his new status as a senior cabinet minister, but a humble and less conspicuous people carrier.

And the embattled PM will be hoping her new chancellor can carry the British people with him, as he embarks on more U-turns designed to steady the nerves of markets, Tory MPs and voters.

The latest verdict of the markets will come early on Monday morning, hours before MPs return to Westminster after taking soundings in their constituencies over the weekend. Those soundings are likely to have been brutal.

The voters’ latest verdict will come in the next snap opinion polls. And while jittery Tory MPs will hope the polls can’t get any worse for their party, it’s possible they will.

A poll of polls analysed by Sky News confirms the findings of recent surveys suggesting Labour’s average lead is nudging 30 points, the biggest since Tony Blair’s honeymoon period after his 1997 landslide.

After the turmoil and chaos of the past week, the mood of Conservative MPs is mutinous. One senior backbencher, Sir Crispin Blunt, was first to declare publicly that the game is up.

Truss loyalists will claim, with some justification, that Sir Crispin is not the most reliable witness. He defended former Tory MP Imran Khan, who was convicted of sexual assault, though he later apologised.

But the Reigate MP, who is now quitting at the next election, was only saying publicly what many Conservative MPs are saying privately.

He was closely followed by serial rebel Andrew Bridgen, who claimed the PM has run out of friends. He expects “fireworks” this week and predicts a general election if the situation is not resolved quickly.

In issuing his call, Mr Bridgen has set some kind of record. Ms Truss is the fourth leader he has called to go since he was elected in 2010, after David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. At least he’s consistent.

Next came Jamie Wallis, a 2019-er, who declared “enough is enough” and announced he’s written to the prime minister, asking her to stand down as she no longer holds the confidence of the country.

There was much talk over the weekend of Tory MPs rallying behind a “unity candidate” to replace Ms Truss. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, defeated leadership candidate Rishi Sunak and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt have been touted to succeed the PM.

But a senior defence source told Sky News: “The defence secretary is focused on our support for Ukraine and the security of Britain and our allies. Our future as a government and as a Conservative Party lies in demonstrating and providing stability.

“Anything other than that will lead to a deserved spell in opposition.”

In other words, Mr Wallace is telling his more excitable backbenchers to calm down and the veteran plotters – a group of embittered ex-ministers who have been both king-makers and assassins of Tory leaders over the years – to back off.

For now.

Mr Wallace didn’t entirely rule out putting himself forward at some point in the future. And he remains the favourite among party activists, regularly topping polls of party members in highly unscientific popularity contests.

It’s likely Mr Hunt will have to face MPs in the Commons on Monday afternoon to explain the U-turns so far, either in a statement or by answering an urgent question from Labour’s Rachel Reeves, which Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would be certain to grant.

But as he proved in his weekend interviews, Mr Hunt is an experienced and accomplished public performer who has already displayed a reassuring tone in his first few days in his new job.

The same cannot be said of Ms Truss, whose brief news conference in Downing Street on Friday afternoon was a public relations disaster that left even many of her most loyal supporters in despair.

Not surprisingly, Labour want the PM and not Mr Hunt to come to the Commons. Good luck, as they say, with that.

Mr Hunt is now on a rescue mission to save Ms Truss’s premiership. He’s also suddenly back in the running to become the next prime minister, along with Mr Wallace, Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt and – his diehard supporters hope – Boris Johnson.

To be fair, he did say in his latest interview: “Having run two leadership campaigns, and by the way failed in both of them, the desire to be leader has been clinically excised from me.”

He went on to say: “I want to be a good chancellor. It’s going to be very, very difficult. But that’s what I’m focusing on.”

Difficult indeed. Many MPs would see his appointment as chancellor as a poisoned chalice. And there have been suggestions that he wasn’t the PM’s first choice and she sounded out Sajid Javid first.

That’s strongly denied by Number 10 insiders, one of whom took the opportunity to denigrate Mr Javid to Sunday newspapers in most unpleasant terms, provoking understandable protests from Tory MPs.

Mr Hunt is now undeniably the man of the moment. How long he remains in that position will depend on how long Ms Truss survives.

Given the extremely brief tenure of his two immediate predecessors, Kwasi Kwarteng and Nadhim Zahawi, he’ll have to weigh up whether it’s worth moving his wife and three young children into the Downing Street flat.

But he could be forgiven for hoping he gets to be driven around in a better government car than the rather down-market people carrier that sped him away from Chequers.

Given the PM’s vulnerability and weakness, the back seat driver tag will be difficult for Mr Hunt to shake off.

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

7 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

15 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Published

19 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.

Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.

The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.

“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.

“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”

Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.

Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.

Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.

“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.

The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.

It said three children and their mother were among the dead.

Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.

On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.

A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.

People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.

Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.

A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.