I'm not a Tory voter. Jeremy Hunt has an appalling track record, and his time as Health Minister was truly awful.
And yet....there have been multiple times over the last couple of years where he's been quite honest and outspoken about poor Tory policies. He refused to support Boris' social care bill because it would screw over poorer pensioners. He's given quite candid interviews during his time out of the cabinet where he's not tried to bullshit his way through difficult questions.
Does that mean I trust him? Absolutely not. But he's infinitely better than the shitshow that was Truss and Kwarteng. It's not saying much, but it's a start. Right now, someone in charge who can give a straight answer and string a sentence together is a bloody relief. We were in freefall and I think he's stopped it, at least for now.
Of course we shouldn't set such a low bar, but we have to start somewhere. And bizarrely, Jeremy Hunt is proving to be a step up from the rest. He's not where we want to be, but it's the best we have at the moment.
It sort of reminds me when Piers Morgan has a decent opinion and tweets about it. It's an uncomfortable feeling to realise that you're agreeing with him. It doesn't wipe out all of the things he's done in the past, or the fact that on a moral level you fundamentally disagree with a lot of his other opinions. But sometimes Piers Morgan acts like a decent human being for a while, and shows he has capacity for intelligent thought. It's very disconcerting but it almost feels as if this is what's happening here by accepting that Jeremy Hunt is a competent hand on the wheel.