Latest news with #JeremyHunt
Telegraph
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: As Trump approves Iran attack plan, is Britain fit for battle?
In a period of more global conflict than any time in the last 80 years, can the UK regain its military might to safeguard democracies and demonstrate power to those who threaten it? Jeremy Hunt joins Camilla to put his pitch to General Sir Nick Carter, former Chief of the Defence staff, and Con Coughlin, Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor at The Telegraph. In their roundtable discussion, the former chancellor and foreign secretary compares the current defence environment to Donald Trump 's first term, when the president threatened to pull the US out of Nato at an alliance summit in Brussels. 'It was a moment of very, very high peril,' Mr Hunt, who was the newly-minted foreign secretary at the time, says. 'And I would be looking at this summit that's coming up in 10 days' time as a moment of maximum peril,' he adds, referring to the Nato meeting in Brussels at the end of this month. Mr Hunt calls on Keir Starmer to boost defence spending to 3.4 per cent of GDP: 'If he does it now, France and Germany will feel at the summit that they have to do it.' 'What we do really does count, and we can't do this on our own, but we have tremendous influence across Europe.' On President Trump, Mr Hunt says: 'He questions the Western alliance. He questions Article Five, but deep down he would rather be leader of the Western alliance than just leader of America because for him that is something that feels good and looks good.' 'But he needs to know that there isn't this unfairness in the way defence spending is done.' Later, General Sir Nick Carter considers what went wrong with the West's involvement in Afghanistan. 'We managed to create, at the encouragement of Donald Rumsfeld, an exclusive government that excluded all the people who've been insurgents in the past. And of course, once you do that, you're bringing on an insurgency.' The former military chief described the operation as 'an utter misalignment of a political strategy with a military strategy'. This is the first episode of a special Daily T series with Jeremy Hunt inspired by his new book, which sees the MP pitch his optimism and ideas to leading experts on how the UK can change the world for the better. From mass migration to leading the AI revolution, we ask, can we be great again? Watch episodes of the Daily T here. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Could Keir Starmer be just the man to reform the ECHR?
There is no one better suited than Sir Keir Starmer to lead efforts to reform the European Convention on Human Rights. That is not the view of a Labour politician but of Jeremy Hunt, the former Conservative chancellor. Writing in his new book, he points to the prime minister's background as a human rights lawyer who has supported and defended the rights enshrined in the ECHR — making his credentials for reforming it 'impeccable'. Labour MPs and even those who sit around the cabinet table are less certain. Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary who is leading the UK's case for reform of the ECHR, has told colleagues that even she is unsure of what the prime minister wants to achieve or how far he is prepared to go on changing the 75-year-old convention.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Jeremy Hunt says Lucy Letby's case must be urgently re-examined
Sir Jeremy Hunt is calling for an 'urgent re-examination' of the case of convicted murderer Lucy Letby. It comes just months after the former health secretary apologised to the families of the former nurse's victims at a public inquiry. The Conservative MP pleaded for the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to 'speed up their normally painfully slow process'. The CCRC, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is considering evidence presented by Letby's legal team from an international panel of medics. They claim that poor medical care and natural causes were to blame for the babies collapsing at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit. Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after being convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. Giving evidence in January at the Thirlwall Inquiry over Letby's crimes, Sir Jeremy – who was health secretary between 2012 and 2018 – acknowledged the 'appalling crime' took place under his watch. He said he bore ultimate responsibility for the NHS 'insofar as lessons were not learned from previous inquiries that could have been or the right systems were not in place'. Lucy Letby has been convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others (PA Media) He said: 'I want to put on the record my apologies to the families for anything that did not happen that potentially could have prevented such an appalling crime.' Writing in the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Sir Jeremy said: 'I am not arguing that Letby is innocent. That is not my place. I believe in the separation of powers. It must never be the role of any politician to second-guess the outcome of any court decision, let alone a jury trial. 'The pain endured by the families affected must also be at the forefront of our minds. Their suffering is beyond our comprehension and they deserve compassion, respect and ongoing support. 'But most of all, they deserve the truth. And recently, some have begun to cast doubt on what actually happened. Were those tragic deaths caused by an evil woman or were they the result of medical error? 'As someone who has campaigned for more than a decade to reduce avoidable death, that matters to me. 'If Letby really did kill seven babies in their cots and attempted to kill seven more, no punishment short of the death penalty is too harsh. But if they were caused by professional shortcomings, we need to know why. 'More than anything else, we need to make sure other families don't have to go through the same tragedy.' Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt apologised at the Thirlwall Inquiry to families of the victims of Lucy Letby (PA) Sir Jeremy said he had noted the findings of the international panel of paediatric specialists and neonatologists, and had also read a 'wide range of expert concerns about the conduct of the criminal case'. He said: 'Taken together – and it pains me to say it – this analysis raises serious and credible questions about the evidence presented in court, the robustness of expert testimony and the interpretation of statistical data. 'That is why I and parliamentary colleagues such as Sir David Davis, now believe the time has come for these concerns to be addressed as a matter of urgency.' He continued: 'While there is such a high degree of speculation about the potentially unfair prosecution of a healthcare professional, others will feel much more nervous about coming forward about mistakes they may have made. Lessons will not be learned and more babies will die. 'Justice must be done and seen to be done. And that means the CCRC has to speed up their normally painfully slow process.' He added that 'none of this should diminish the compassion we owe the families who have already suffered so much'. He said: 'Re-examination of the evidence is not a denial of their pain. But it will ensure that all of us can have confidence that the truth has been reached through a rigorous and fair process. 'And if medical error was the cause, we can then make sure no more babies die from the same mistakes.' Lucy Letby: Timeline of nurse who murdered seven babies Lawyers for the families of Letby's victims dismissed the medical panel's conclusions as 'full of analytical holes' and 'a rehash' of the defence case heard at trial. The mother of a baby boy who Letby attempted to murder said the families 'already have the truth'. They believe in the British justice system and the jury made the right decision, she said. The mother of another boy, Baby C, who Letby was convicted of murdering, told the Thirlwall Inquiry: 'The media PR campaign aimed to garner public sympathy for Letby demonstrates a complete lack of understanding for Letby's crimes and the complexity of the case. 'The misinformed and inaccurate media circus surrounding this case, our son and the other babies is potentiating the distress of all of the families involved.' Letby, from Hereford, lost two bids in 2024 to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal. One was in May, for seven murders and six attempted murders, and one was in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl, which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial. Cheshire Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016. A separate probe by the force into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital also remains ongoing. Lady Justice Thirlwall is due to publish the findings from her public inquiry in early 2026.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Lucy Letby: Jeremy Hunt calls for 'urgent re-examination' of killer nurse case
Former health secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt has called for an "urgent re-examination" of the Lucy Letby case after "serious and credible" questions were raised by Conservative MP pleaded for the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, to "speed up their normally painfully slow process". The CCRC is considering evidence presented by Letby's legal team from an international panel of medics claiming poor medical care and natural causes were the real reasons for the deaths of the babies she was found guilty of said he and parliamentary colleagues such as Sir David Davis "now believe the time has come for these concerns to be addressed as a matter of urgency". Former nurse Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester said he had noted the findings of the international panel of paediatric specialists and neonatologists, and had also read a "wide range of expert concerns about the conduct of the criminal case".He said: "Taken together - and it pains me to say it - this analysis raises serious and credible questions about the evidence presented in court, the robustness of expert testimony and the interpretation of statistical data."Giving evidence in January at the Thirlwall Inquiry into Letby's crimes, Hunt said: "I want to put on the record my apologies to the families for anything that did not happen that potentially could have prevented such an appalling crime." Writing in the Daily Mail newspaper on Wednesday, Hunt said he was not arguing that Letby is innocent, adding that "the pain endured by the families affected must also be at the forefront of our minds", but they deserved the truth."And recently, some have begun to cast doubt on what actually happened," Hunt said. "Were those tragic deaths caused by an evil woman or were they the result of medical error?"He said justice "must be done and seen to be done", adding that re-examination of the evidence was not a denial of the families' pain but would "ensure that all of us can have confidence that the truth has been reached through a rigorous and fair process"."And if medical error was the cause, we can then make sure no more babies die from the same mistakes," he added. Lawyers for the families of Letby's victims have dismissed the medical panel's conclusions as "full of analytical holes" and "a rehash" of the defence case heard at mother of one baby boy who Letby attempted to murder said the families "already have the truth" and they believed in the British justice system and that the jury made the right Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016.A separate inquiry by the force into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess is Justice Thirlwall is due to publish the findings from her public inquiry in early 2026. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Jeremy Hunt: Lucy Letby's case must be re-examined
Jeremy Hunt has called for Lucy Letby's case to be urgently re-examined. The former health secretary, who held the post when the neonatal nurse carried out her crimes, said new evidence 'raises serious and credible questions' about her case. He added that questions around the safety of her conviction were not conspiracy theories from 'far-flung reaches of the internet' and said they needed addressing 'as a matter of urgency'. Letby, 35, from Herefordshire, was convicted for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016. After she was sentenced to 15 life terms in prison, the Thirlwall Inquiry was launched to discover how she was able to commit the crimes. Many experts have since challenged the way evidence was presented to the jury during her trial, and a panel of world-leading experts have reviewed the medical notes and concluded that there were no malicious acts. Writing in The Daily Mail, Mr Hunt insisted he was not saying Letby was innocent, adding that the pain of the victims' families 'must also be at the forefront of our minds'. 'But most of all they deserve the truth,' he said. 'And recently some have begun to cast doubt on what actually happened. 'I have now read a wide range of expert concerns about the conduct of the Letby criminal case. 'They are not conspiracy theories dredged up from far-flung reaches of the internet.' Mr Hunt said the 'most disturbing' evidence was that of the 14 paediatric specialists, who ruled that the deaths or injuries of the newborns were down to natural causes or errors in medical care. 'Taken together – and it pains me to say it – this analysis raises serious and credible questions about the evidence presented in court, the robustness of expert testimony and the interpretation of statistical data. 'That is why I and parliamentary colleagues such as Sir David Davis now believe the time has come for these concerns to be addressed as a matter of urgency,' he added. Appearing at the inquiry earlier this year, Mr Hunt apologised to the families of Letby's victims and said her crimes had been committed 'on [his] watch'. Although her case has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Mr Hunt warned that the organisation was 'hopelessly dysfunctional'. The body, which is responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice and the only one that can refer cases to the Court of Appeal, has made headlines for its mishandling of high profile cases such as that of Andrew Malkinson. The 59-year-old former security guard served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit as chances to free him were repeatedly missed, leading to one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Mr Hunt called for the CCRC to 'get its act together'. 'We owe it to the public, the families affected and the NHS to be absolutely sure that the convictions were sound, the process was fair and the evidence met the threshold we expect in any case – especially one of this gravity,' he added. 'Justice must be done and seen to be done. And that means the CCRC has to speed up their normally painfully slow process.'
