Jeremy Hunt: Sometimes, a 'slip of the tongue' tells us everything we need to know

By David Higgerson on Jul 1, 10 05:20 PM

There was a rumour shortly after the general election that Jeremy Hunt, who had been the shadow culture minister, was in line for a much bigger job in government.

Some touted him as the new home secretary, ousting the obvious candidate Chris Grayling, whose open-mouth-and-let-everything-fall-out style of conversation ultimately cost him that job.

Others suggested he'd go straight in at the Treasury, replacing George Osborne, who, some said, had upset David Cameron by devising an election strategy which resulted in the Lib Dems climbing into the Number 10 bed.

Neither proved to be true - if either were likely, I suspect it would have been the first scenario, not the latter.

And he certainly shares a trait which seems to have been essential for the Home Office in the past - the ability to put in mouth.

His suggestion earlier this week that the Hillsborough disaster was caused by hooliganism was, he said, a mistake during a live interview with Sky News. However, it wasn't such an obvious mistake that he retracted it until a statement later in the day.

For a man who has had two months to get on top of his brief - which includes monitoring the work of the illsborough Independent Panel and ensuring it has access to all the information it needs - this wasn't just a slip of the tongue. It was pure ignorance, dressed up in a cream suit, stood in the London sun at photo opportunity.

He was right to celebrate the fact English football fans hadn't caused any problems in South Africa, but he didn't need to cite the examples where he clearly though badly behaved fans had caused problems before. The fact he did showed instantly how short on knowledge he was in this area.

And that's got to be a huge worry for David Cameron. He has a minister who clearly doesn't know his brief. And a minister who clearly doesn't understand that.

Hunt's letter of apology to the Liverpool ECHO is, quite frankly, the least he could have done.

To quote the letter:

It was a genuine mistake, and I deeply, deeply regret the offence that it has caused to the people of Liverpool. I know full well, as the Taylor Report found, that fan unrest played no part in the terrible events of April 1989.
I understand that people on Merseyside are still very raw about the disaster. That was evident at the 20th anniversary service last year, when Liverpool fans packed out Anfield and made their views clear.

Clearly, he didn't know the contents of the Taylor Report, or, if he did know the contents of the Taylor Report, he'd clearly forgotten them. That's very, very worrying.

There's now speculation Hunt will go back on the word of the previous Government to make all the Hillsborough information available to the inquiry. That would be the biggest insult yet - and the fact the Government hasn't clarified its position here is very worrying.

For David Cameron to say he still has full faith in his minister is also very worrying. It's one thing to slip up, it's quite another to reveal how little you know about your subject - and then try to get away with it.