Jeremy Hunt became health secretary on 4 September 2012 and lasted five years and 309 days before moving to the foreign office as part of a cabinet reshuffle triggered by Brexit.
Mr Hunt moved past Labour health secretary Alan Milburn in early May 2016 to become the longest-serving of the 12 MPs who have held the post of secretary of state for health since 1988, and as of February 2018 had outlasted Aneurin Bevan.
On Monday 4 June 2018, Mr Hunt began his 2,100th day as health secretary, becoming the longest serving minister in that role or an equivalent post since the NHS began. Mr Hunt's role was expanded from health secretary to health and social care secretary following a reshuffle in early 2018.
Between 1968 and 1988 his predecessors were called secretary of state for social services, and between 1919 and 1968 the department of health was led by a health minister, rather than a health secretary.
Long-serving health secretary
Mr Hunt's predecessor Andrew Lansley missed out on joining the top 10 longest-serving health secretaries after being moved out of the role after two years and 120 days. Prior to his appointment, Mr Lansley was widely trumpeted as among the best-prepared health secretaries in history, after a six-year spell as Conservative shadow health secretary.
| Top 10 health secretaries by time spent in post since the NHS began | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name and Years in office | Party | Length of tenure |
| 1. | Jeremy Hunt 4 Sept 2012 - date |
Conservative | 5 yrs 309 days |
| 2. | Norman Fowler 14 Sept 1981 - 13 Jun 1987* |
Conservative | 5 yrs 273 days |
| 3. | Aneurin Bevan 3 Aug 1945 - 17 Jan 1951** |
Labour | 5 yrs 167 days |
| 4. | Kenneth Robinson 18 Oct 1964 - 1 Nov 1968 |
Labour | 4 yrs 14 days |
| 5. | Sir Keith Joseph 20 Jun 1970 - 4 Mar 1974* |
Conservative | 3 yrs 258 days |
| 6. | Alan Milburn 11 October 1999 - 13 June 2003 |
Labour | 3 yrs 245 days |
| 7. | Iain Macleod 7 May 1952 - 20 Dec 1955 |
Conservative | 3 yrs 227 days |
| 8. | Virginia Bottomley 10 Apr 1992 - 5 Jul 1995 |
Conservative | 3 yrs 86 days |
| 9. | Enoch Powell 27 Jul 1960 - 20 Oct 1963 |
Conservative | 3 yrs 85 days |
| 10. | David Ennals 8 Apr 1976 - 4 May 1979* |
Labour | 3 yrs 27 days |
*In post as Secretary of State for Social Services because health was part of the social care department between 1968 and 1988.
** NHS established in 1948 – halfway through Aneurin Bevan’s five-and-a-half-year tenure as health secretary.
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> Jeremy Hunt has outlasted Aneurin Bevan as health secretary
