Jeremy Hunt is delivering his Autumn Statement today, on Wednesday 22 November, and has already announced some major changes. Namely, he has reduced employee national insurance by 2%. The treasury says:
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From January, employee national insurance contributions will drop from 12% to 10%.
That’s a £450 tax cut for the average worker earning £35,400.
As more of Hunt’s announcements as Chancellor come out, let’s have a look at how much money the politician has in the bank. Here’s his massive estimated net worth and how he got it.
What Hunt did before politics
Hunt graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. He worked as a management consultant at OC&C Strategy Consultants for two years before heading off to Japan to teach English.
Later, he co-founded an educational listing company called Hotcourses with his childhood friend. The company compiles databases of places to study in the UK, and shares information with overseas students who are looking to take courses in Britain. According to inews:
It was sold for £30.1m to IDP Education, a Melbourne-based student placement company.
At the time of sale, Companies House showed that Mr Hunt owned 48 per cent of Hotcourses.
Hunt’s income now
Jeremy Hunt has been the Conservative MP for South West Surrey since 2005, a role for which he earns the standard MP salary of £86,584. As Chancellor, he earns an additional entitled salary of £71,673, and a claimed salary of £67,505. This means Hunt earns over £200,000 per year.
Hunt’s Parliamentary Register of Interests shows that he has also been paid to speak at events. However, his earnings - which ranged from £4,000 to £12,000 - were paid directly to charity.
Mr Hunt set up a buy-to-let property business called Mare Pond Properties in 2018, which he reportedly owns jointly with his wife Lucia. The company bought seven apartments in Southampton, but once again Hunt doesn’t pocket the money made from renting them out. A spokesperson explained at the time:
Jeremy and his wife set up the company as a vehicle through which to make charitable donations and no salaries or dividends will be taken from it for their personal benefit.
Hunt’s estimated net worth
Hunt’s exact net worth has never been disclosed, but he has a massive estimated net worth of over £15m. According to inews, ‘he netted £14.5m after Hotcourses’. After he stepped down as director in 2009, shortly before his first cabinet appointment, he transferred his shares to a blind trust.
Hunt’s massive net worth means that people will inspect how he treats Britain’s most vulnerable in his Autumn Statement with a keen eye. Just as PM Rishi Sunak has been accused several times of being out-of-touch, it would be easy for the same to happen to the Chancellor.
Read more:
⋙ Rishi Sunak has been in office for one year: Here's the salary he earns as Prime Minister
⋙ Suella Braverman: This could be the real reason why she publicised her scathing letter to Rishi Sunak
Sources used:
inews: What is Jeremy Hunt’s net worth? Chancellor’s salary explained and how much he sold his business for
The Guardian: Autumn statement live: Jeremy Hunt cuts employee national insurance from 12% to 10%; OBR downgrades UK growth forecast
