Ringing a bell seemed a safe photo opportunity for Jeremy Hunt as he sought to show London was ready to host a problem-free Olympic Games in 2012. But the bell broke apart, its base flying into a group of onlookers, just missing one of them.
"My goodness me!" Hunt said, leaping into the crowd to make sure everyone was OK before telling stunned journalists, "You got a little more TV there than you were expecting!"
Hunt, who is now vying to become leader of Britain's Conservative Party and the country's next prime minister, took it well — tweeting the video to his followers.
The gaffe turned into a viral smash, typifying what many consider Hunt's biggest strength: an ability to seem human when a camera is nearby. It's a skill desperately needed by the Conservatives, whose current leader, Prime Minister Theresa May, is known for being wooden and occasionally robotic, sticking to message even if it means repeating a single sentence over and over again.
Hunt will need that ability to connect with voters if he is to win the leadership contest.
Hunt, 52, finished a distant second behind Boris Johnson in Thursday's vote of Conservative Party lawmakers, but his 77 votes, to Johnson's 160, were enough to get to the final round. The two men will now face the party's 160,000 members, with pollsters forecasting Johnson is likely to win because of his uncompromising stance that Britain must leave the EU on Oct. 31.
Hunt, who backed the losing "remain" side during the 2016 referendum on EU membership, has a more nuanced position on Brexit. He says he will negotiate a better withdrawal deal and lead the U.K. out of the bloc.
Just before the final, he pledged to put his put his "heart & soul" into giving Johnson the contest of his life.
"In politics today," he said on Twitter, "the unexpected often happens."
Hunt has held a variety of Cabinet posts during his 14 years in Parliament and has been foreign secretary since Johnson resigned the post last July because of differences over Brexit. Regarded as well-versed in making the bureaucracy work, he managed to resolve a heated contract dispute with doctors in the National Health Service during his time as health secretary.
But despite his ability to get a message across, critics doubt he is flashy enough to excite the electorate.
A graduate of Oxford, Hunt was a businessman who co-founded Hotcourses, which produces guidebooks to help students looking to study abroad. The company was sold to Australia's IDP Education for 30 million pounds ($37 billion) in 2017, making Hunt one of Britain's wealthiest politicians. He also set up a charity to help AIDS orphans in Africa.
Elected to the House of Commons in 2005, Hunt first rose to national attention when he was appointed Secretary of Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. The success of the Games earned him promotion to the politically fraught role of Health Secretary, where he successfully negotiated a contract with young doctors in the service after months of acrimony.
He met his wife, Lucia Guo, a native of China, while she was working for the University of Warwick to recruit students. They now have three children.
Her background became the subject of one of Hunt's most embarrassing blunders in public office. When meeting a Chinese delegation, Hunt accidentally described her as being Japanese — embarrassing given the long rivalry between the two countries. Hunt again returned to self-effacing humor to dampen embarrassment afterward.
"Rule 1 as a new Foreign Sec: when reflecting in English with the Chinese on a conversation you had with them in Japanese about your Chinese wife, don't get any of those mixed up!" he said on Twitter. "Apologies to the long-suffering Mrs H...!"
He later posted a picture of himself in a florist shop in Paris on his way home after the gaffe saying he was choosing a present for "Mrs. H."
Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and the Conservative Party leadership race at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.
Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.
“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”
“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.
The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.
Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.
Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.
The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.
Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.
In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.
Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.
Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
