Sex And The City star backs ‘listener’ Hunt rather than Johnson

Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has won some unlikely backing from one of the stars of Sex And The City.

Kim Cattrall, who played glamorous and sexually adventurous PR Samantha Jones in the TV show and films, said she likes Mr Hunt at a time when politicians “seem to rely on drama”.

The Liverpool-born actress was reluctant to choose either Mr Hunt or his rival Boris Johnson when asked who she thought would be a better prime minister for the arts in the UK, replying with a laugh: “Well they’re both Tories.”

Speaking to the Press Association, she continued: “I can’t say. I can’t speak of that. I don’t know enough to make an accurate choice.

“But I like Jeremy Hunt. He seems to consider what he does, and at a time when politicians seem to rely on drama and television ratings and hysterical balancing acts of how much they’re needed and wanted, I think that he listens and that is paramount in any politician.”

Cattrall, 62, said she was “not surprised” that the arts was not a major topic of discussion at the hustings event that Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt took part in on Saturday.

She said she would implore them to discuss the arts at future events, saying: “One of the biggest exports that we have is our writers, our directors, our producers, our set designers, our actors, our singers, our dancers, our choreographers, we represent the UK on the world stage.”

Cattrall was speaking ahead of The Old Vic’s annual fundraiser at The Brewery in east London on Sunday night.