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Jeremy Hunt is being tipped for a promotion in Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle despite more than five years of clashes with furious doctors as Health Secretary.

Just months ago the Tory minister - one of the longest-serving NHS chiefs in history - pleaded for more time to fix the health service, saying: "Rome wasn't built in a day."

But he is now reportedly being lined up to take a key Cabinet Office job, vacated by ousted Damian Green, ahead of Theresa May changing her top team tomorrow.

Mr Hunt has a long history of disputes with doctors.

Enraged medics staged unprecedented strikes and camped outside Mr Hunt's office in 2016 in protest at new junior doctors' contracts as part of his plans for a "seven-day NHS".

(Image: REX)

Eventually the contracts were forced on them despite medics warning they would leave rota gaps and compromise patient safety.

As part of the row, Mr Hunt was accused of misleading the public with his use of statistics to claim more people die on NHS wards at the weekend.

A key study he quoted had warned the "weekend" meant Friday to Monday inclusive, and any notion the study could be used to prevent deaths was "rash and misleading".

He was also accused of condemning millions of patients to longer waits in A&E by saying a key target to be seen within four hours should only apply to "urgent" cases.

And he is facing court action over new American-style NHS bodies called Accountable Care Organisations which have been branded a "Trojan horse for privatisation".

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Mrs May is now torn over whether to promote Mr Hunt or wait until the NHS winter crisis, which saw 55,000 operations postponed, is out of the headlines, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

But other newspapers have lined Mr Hunt up repeatedly as the possible candidate for promotion in this week's shake-up.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth fumed: "Promoting the Health Secretary would be a betrayal of patients who deserve better this winter."

It's claimed Mr Hunt could take over from Damian Green, who was forced to resign after admitting he misled the public about whether porn was found on his computer.

As Cabinet Office minister, the new holder of the job will oversee a string of crucial Brexit sub-committees. Mr Hunt, like Mr Green, voted Remain.

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

The new holder of the job could also win the grand title of First Secretary of State - Deputy PM in all but name - which was previously held by Mr Green.

Jeremy Hunt became Health Secretary in September 2012, taking over from Andrew Lansley who implemented controversial reform plans.

If he is still in post in June, he will claim the title of longest-serving Health Secretary since the NHS began.

Technically he is already the longest-serving, but only because the job title also counted social services until 1988.

He must serve five years and 272 days to beat record-holder Norman Fowler, who famously pioneered the "don't die of ignorance" AIDS campaign and is now Speaker of the House of Lords.

And if he's still in the job by about March he will outstrip NHS founder Nye Bevan, who served for five years and 167 days according to GP Online.