Can Britain be 'Great' once again? Yes, we can says battler who defied all the odds

BRITAIN has been “down in the dumps” for too long and it is time for us to “get our mojo back”, according to former Chancellor and Foreign Secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt.

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The 58-year-old father-of-three is so excited about the UK’s potential he has written a book — Can We Be Great Again? His answer to this question is an emphatic “Yes”.

This admiral’s son also sees a clear way forward for the revival of the Conservative Party. He wants Tories to reach out to pensioners who backed Reform and to the “hard-working class” — parents with big mortgages whom he claims are ignored in modern politics.

Sir Jeremy relishes a challenge. In 2022 he accepted then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’s invitation to serve as her Chancellor in the wake of the “disastrous” mini-Budget.

He was on a Eurostar getaway in Brussels with his wife, Lucia, when Ms Truss sent him a text asking to speak with him. He assumed it was a hoax and went and had French toast for breakfast before being assured by Downing Street that, yes, the PM wanted him on the line.

The experience of staring into a £72billion black hole in the heart of the national finances has not shaken his confidence in Britain’s potential. The moment you step into his corner office overlooking the Thames you are hit with a blast of optimism.

This is a man who defied expectations and held on to his Surrey seat by 891 votes. He seeks to do more than rescue the economy and his party from disaster - he wants to see greatness restored.

The cover of his book features a tortoise with a Union Jack painted on its shell.

“What this symbolises to me is British durability because tortoises are some of the toughest, longest-living animals on the planet and there's a solidity there,” he says. “But also there’s a need for us to get out from our shell.

“I think we have been down in the dumps for too long as a country and I want us to get our mojo back.”