Sir John Hunt
Amiable and long-serving Conservative MP who took over Harold Macmillan’s Bromley seat
SIR JOHN HUNT, who has died aged 87, gained a reputation over 33 years as MP for Bromley as one of the most liberal-minded Tory backbenchers; he never held office under Margaret Thatcher, and was one of the last of his peer group to be knighted.
Hunt achieved his highest profile at the start of his career, taking over the seat vacated by Harold Macmillan when he left politics in 1964. Macmillan, who had resigned as prime minister the previous autumn, told his farewell dinner: “This is my swan song, but I hope to hand over to this young cygnet.”
Anyone less swanlike than the amiable Hunt was hard to imagine: he was plump, balding and rubicund. Explaining how he had correctly guessed Hunt’s weight at 18 stone, his contemporary Paul Hawkins said: “Easy – I’ve spent most of my life judging prize bullocks.”
A stockbroker away from the House, Hunt was respected within it. He also had a strong constituency base, having been Bromley’s mayor when Macmillan stood down. He pressed successive governments to crack down on the “Children of God”, an American sect who had based themselves in Bromley and were accused by converts’ parents of “brainwashing”.
Hunt got into hot water with his association when he teamed up with Eric Lubbock, Liberal MP for neighbouring Orpington, to conduct a survey of local chip shops. Though he took on board this warning about fraternising with the enemy, he worked with Lubbock to persuade Harold Wilson’s government to crack down on suspect computer programming schools as the IT age dawned.
He saw Edward Heath’s drive to take Britain into Europe as the key to a more enjoyable, continental lifestyle. When bakers’ leaders claimed Britain baked “the best loaf in the world”, Hunt told them the taste and texture of a French loaf was one of the best reasons for going in.
John Leonard Hunt was born on October 27 1929, the son of William Hunt and the former Dora Gidley. Brought up at Keston, Kent, he attended Dulwich then did National Service with the Intelligence Corps.
After a spell as a management trainee with Peak Frean biscuits, in 1951 Hunt joined the stockbrokers Vivan Gray & Co, where his father was a partner. From 1958 to 1970 he was a member of the London Stock Exchange.
He joined the Young Conservatives at 17, and in 1953 won their national speaking competition. The same year he was elected to Bromley council, and in 1963 he was installed as mayor.
Before the 1959 election he was selected for Lewisham South, represented by the veteran Labour heavyweight Herbert Morrison. He hoped to eliminate Morrison’s majority of 6,343, but the former home secretary bowed out with a peerage, and his replacement hung on.
At the 1962 Conservative conference Hunt accused ministers of being over-cautious in reflating the economy. He said Macmillan had been too slow to sack Selwyn Lloyd as Chancellor, and told Lloyd’s successor: “Stop dawdling, Maudling.”
When his home seat became vacant Hunt went for it, and in March 1964 was selected. When the general election came that October – the latest possible date, as the Conservatives expected to lose – Macmillan spoke for Hunt in his only campaign appearance, delivering a stirring justification for Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
Hunt feared the Liberal revival triggered by Lubbock’s capture of Orpington two years before might erode Macmillan’s majority, but he romped home by 11,327 votes. The seat – renamed Ravensbourne in 1974 after boundary changes – remained safe throughout his career.
At Westminster Hunt voted against Tory moves to tighten immigration controls, supported the Labour MP Leo Abse’s Bill to decriminalise homosexuality and co-sponsored David Steel’s Bill to legalise abortion.
He upset more of his own side attacking Ian Smith’s pursuit of “permanent white supremacy” in Rhodesia, voting with Labour after UDI to impose oil sanctions, and dismissing anti-immigration campaigners as “racialists and illiterates”. When in 1969 the Left-wing Tory Nigel Fisher came under pressure in his Surbiton constituency, Hunt claimed he too was being targeted.
After Heath led the Tories back to power in 1970, Hunt was their first backbencher to threaten to rebel, over postal charges. He was a consistent critic of the Post Office, demanding the resignation of William Ryland as its chairman when in 1972 much of the Christmas mail went undelivered and being incensed when ministers instead gave him a pay rise and a knighthood.
Hunt defended Heath against increasingly strident attacks from Enoch Powell over Europe, and in his confrontations with the miners. After Heath’s self-inflicted election defeat of February 1974, Hunt rebuked Steel for proposing a coalition when Jeremy Thorpe had put Labour into power by rejecting one.
He was not a frequent rebel during the Thatcher years despite severe misgivings over her policies, though he did vote against NHS eye tests. Hunt welcomed the Maastricht treaty, saying John Major had acted “in the best interests of the British people”. But from 1980 he devoted much of his time to chairing Commons committees.
Hunt chaired all-party groups on race relations and British citizenship. He was a founder-member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, and for 13 years a delegate to the Council of Europe. He chaired the Britishcaribbean Association, the Indobritish Parliamentary group and from 1981 the Greater London Conservative MPS. He was parliamentary adviser to the National Hairdressers’ Federation.
With his constituency due to be split, Hunt decided to retire at the 1997 election. Shortly before, a decision by Gillian Shephard, Education Secretary, to allow a local school to select pupils by competitive examination so incensed him that he refused to support the Conservatives’ election campaign.
Hunt was president of the Institute of Administrative Accountants and the Institute of Data Processing. He was a Freeman of the City of London and of the Haberdashers’ Company, and was knighted in 1989.
John Hunt was unmarried.
Sir John Hunt, born October 27 1929, died September 19 2017