Jeremy Hunt highlights James Glass in constituency newsletter

Chancellor recalls meeting Tristan's remarkable Chief Islander

Chief Islander James Glass with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
Jeremy Hunt at a post-coronation reception in Church House
during the afternoon of 6th May 2023.

 

Extract from Jeremy Hunt's regular newsletter to his constituents

 "A GLOBAL MONARCHY

We had around 100 heads of state come to see the UK at its best over the weekend and I played my part in looking after them. I had a friendly conversation with the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan (but didn’t dare to test out my rusty Japanese on them). I was told by an African President that he calls his Finance Minister Dr No, which I may adopt. But perhaps the most remarkable person I met was the Chief Islander from Tristan da Cunha, a British crown dependency in the South Atlantic which has no airstrip and can only be accessed by boat - a seven day trip from Cape Town. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world with just 250 inhabitants. Because the boat trip only happens a few times a year the Chief Islander had to leave in early March to get to the Coronation. What commitment! Meeting so many heads of state, I found myself again wondering why it is that the UK is often so much more respected abroad than the respect we seem to have for ourselves. Whether defending security in Europe, tackling climate change, combating extreme poverty or defending free trade we are respected because so often we stand for things that other countries care about as much as us. King Charles exemplifies that with his many noble causes - yet another reason his coronation mattered all over the world."