Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt officially launched his leadership campaign yesterday (Picture: EPA)

Jeremy Hunt rowed back on claims he has never done anything illegal after reporters reminded him of the time he broke company laws aimed at preventing money laundering and tax evasion.

The foreign secretary made the U-turn hours after the launch of his campaign to replace Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and the UK’s next Prime Minister.

It comes after several Tory leadership contenders have confessed to having taken illegal drugs in the past.

When asked if he had ever committed any criminal offences, Mr Hunt said: ‘I’m really racking my brain at the moment but the answer is no.’




But his campaign team backtracked five hours later when challenged over Mr Hunt failing to declare a 50 per cent share in a property firm used to buy him seven luxury flats.

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He forgot about the time he broke laws designed to prevent money laundering (Picture: EPA)

Source: EPA

Not telling Companies House he was a ‘significant person with control’ within 28 days of registering the firm in 2018 was a criminal offence punishable by two years in jail or a fine.

Mr Hunt’s team told Buzzfeed News ‘Jeremy’s accountant made an error in the Companies House filing which was a genuine oversight.

‘With respect to ministerial and parliamentary declarations, the Cabinet Office were clear that there was no breach of the ministerial code.

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‘Jeremy declared the interest to them after the company was set up. They advised that as it was a shell company with no assets or value, it should only be registered when it became operational.

‘As such, Jeremy presumed the same rules applied to parliamentary declarations. Although there was no personal gain involved, Jeremy accepted these mistakes were his responsibility and apologised to the parliamentary authorities, who stated that they consider the matter closed.’

The MP for West Surrey was not investigated by police over the blunder.

Mr Hunt has a no-deal Brexit could help Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10 (Picture: EPA)

The rules under the Companies Act were introduced in 2016 while Mr Hunt was a cabinet member for David Cameron’s government.

They aimed to clamp down on tax evasion, corruption and money laundering and to make big businesses more accountable.

Mr Hunt’s gaffe came after he said the country needed a ‘serious candidate’ to handle the ‘constitutional crisis’ surrounding Brexit.

He backed remain in the 2016 referendum campaign but says he has since changed his mind over the ‘arrogance’ of the EU during negotiations.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch Mr Hunt he took a swipe at rival leadership contender Boris Johnson over his ’empty rhetoric’ on a no-deal Brexit.

He warned MPs wouldn’t back crashing out without a deal which would trigger an election which he said the Conservatives would ‘lose badly’.

Mr Hunt pointed out how his party trailed behind the Labour Party and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the Peterborough by-election last week.

He added: ‘If we fight an election before delivering Brexit, we will be annihilated.

‘Squeezed by the Brexit Party on the right and the Lib Dems on the left we simply allow Labour through the middle.

‘And if that happened nationally it would be the end of Brexit. Because whatever else a Labour government did – and I worry about all of it – it would never deliver Brexit.



‘So we need to get real. We are facing a constitutional crisis. Our new Prime Minister will still preside over a hung Parliament.’

Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt has pledged her support for Mr Hunt (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Mr Hunt has won the backing of Eurosceptic defence secretary Penny Mordaunt who said she ‘trusted him’ on Brexit.

She said: ‘It’s true he has credibility from all sides but he also took a side

‘He fought for a deal but he also knew that we have to leave no-deal on the table to secure a good deal.

‘The next leader of the Conservative Party has one hell of a shift – they have to deliver Brexit, swiftly and well, restore faith in Cabinet, Parliament, in government and our politics, grip the challenges of our times.’

She said Mr Hunt has the ‘experience, the values, and a plan’ to achieve this.

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