David Hunt was the Coal Minister during the 1984 miners’ strike. He is now Chairman of the English Speaking Union, having been a Governor and then Deputy Chairman for many years. David Hunt was Senior Partner of Beachcroft Wansbroughs, Solicitors, from 1996-2005 and is now chairman of the financial services division of Beachcroft LLP, specialising in insurance and financial services. He also advises the Association of British Insurers and BUPA.

He was elected MP for Wirral in March 1976 and spent 21 years as an MP. In 1979, he became a member of Margaret Thatcher’s administration as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Nott, as a Whip and then as Coal Minister during the coal strike. He was appointed Deputy Chief Whip after the General Election in 1987. After serving as Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities from 1989-1990, he was appointed to Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales. Re-appointed in that position by John Major, he became Secretary of State for Employment in 1993 and then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1994-1995.

David Hunt is President of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health and Safety, an honorary fellow of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and a Trustee of the British Occupational Health Research Foundation. A leading authority on rehabilitation, he co-founded - and was the first Chairman of - the Case Management Society UK (CMSUK). He is a fully accredited CEDR mediator.

He was awarded the MBE in 1973 and appointed to the Privy Council in 1990. He was made a Life Peer as Lord Hunt of Wirral in 1997 and is President and Patron of over fifty charities and voluntary organisations.

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