Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt today said he will “not be waiting by the phone” for a position in Boris Johnson’s new cabinet, ahead of a government reshuffle.
Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr Hunt, who faced off against Mr Johnson in the leadership race last year, said he believed the Prime Minister has made an “excellent start”.
He added: “I want him to be successful. I don’t rule out in the future but some way away serving him because I want him to be a success.
“But during that leadership campaign I realised that I had been in the Cabinet for every hour that my three kids have been alive because I’ve been in Cabinet for nine years and my oldest is nine.
“So I shall not be waiting by the phone this time.”
So I shall not be waiting by the phone this time.”
Jeremy Hunt, former foreign secretary.
Mr Johnson is expected to carry out a wide-ranging reshuffle of his cabinet on Thursday.
The former foreign secretary was also pressed on reports that Anne Sacoolas, the American woman accused of killing British teenager Harry Dunn, had previously served as a CIA agent, claiming the US was not behaving like an ally over her extradition.
Mr Hunt said: “It may have a bearing on it and I don’t know the truth of these things because I’m not foreign secretary any more, but I still think it is totally and utterly unacceptable that she is not facing justice in the UK.
“And if anyone is questioning that I think we just need to ask what would have happened if the boot had been on the other foot, if a British diplomat had been involved in a road accident in the United States where someone had died and had fled on a private plane back to the UK and was evading justice – I don’t think President Trump would stand for that for one second.
“And I don’t think Britain would have behaved in that way. And I would just say to the United States I’m someone who is the strongest supporter of the special relationship, I think in a very uncertain world the democracies of the world need to stand together, but if we’re going to be in an alliance we need to treat each other like allies and that is not happening.
“I think they should send Anne Sacoolas back.”
