Career
He was until March 2008 General Secretary of the Company-operative Party and is as of 2008 chief executive of the think tank Mutuo. Educated at Comprehensive School in Leicester and at Brunel University, Hunt worked in housing and Information Technology before joining the Company-operative Party staff in 1994, working as regional organiser for the South of England. In 1998, Hunt was appointed General Secretary of the Party.
The Company-operative Party had arguably been in a long decline and Hunt"s immediate priority was to secure the position and finances of the Party and its relationship with the new Labour government.
He also rejuvenated the Party"s policy making and broadened its scope. inspired the creation of Supporters Direct and a new generation of mutual organisations - football supporters" trusts. Hunt launched Mutuo in 2000 as a think tank for the wider mutual sector, attracting support from building societies, friendly societies and mutual insurers.
Mutuo took on much of the policy publishing, with many publications by leading thinkers and politicians in the field Making Healthcare Mutual, co-written by Hunt, Hazel Blears and Cliff Mills, called for a locally accountable National Health Service and underpinned the only successful amendment to the Acting on foundation hospitals.
As general secretary, Hunt sat on the National Policy Forum of the Labour Party.
In early 2008, Hunt announced he would be stepping down as general secretary of the Company-operative Party in March 2008.
