A close study of the career of solicitor and MP David Hunt leaves one with the distinct impression that he would have made an excellent barrister.

In 1965 at Bristol University he beat Donald Dewar to become the Observer Mace debating champion, and then in 1977 he held the record for making one of the longest speeches in the House of Commons.

Later, Margaret Thatcher and John Major recognised his talents for advocacy and used him regularly to present difficult government policy to the public as well as occasionally to 'defend the indefensible', as he puts it.So it must seem quite ironic that although one of the longest serving government ministers -- 16 years until he resigned in July -- David Hunt has perhaps been overshadowed by some of his barrister colleagues.

Kenneth Clarke, Michael Howard and of course Mrs Thatcher herself are all barristers who have risen to higher office.

Perhaps even more poignant is that one of his best known claims to fame is that he used to brief Tony Blair.

Solicitors seem to make first rate MPs but very few achieve top ministerial office.Nevertheless, Mr Hunt says he 'never considered' becoming a barrister and does not believe solicitors face prejudice at the higher echelons of government.

'I have always felt solicitors make far better ministers, but sadly there aren't enough of them coming in to Parliament.' His message to solicitors is for more to 'get involved with public service'.

'Wherever I go in my constituency,' he says, 'I find that the key individual in any voluntary or charitable organisation is generally a solicitor.

But I would like more coming into Parliament and local government.' He also enjoys the sort of contact with people that a barrister i s sometimes removed from and prefers briefing the 'best advocates for the best cases'.At City firm Beachcroft Stanleys he is particularly grateful to his partners for preventing him from being an ivory tower politician.

'They have always told me the way it really was in the world outside.' Stepping down from government to become Beachcroft's senior partner elect he emphasises the continued need to provide quality legal services in a firm which recently described by a Beachcroft newcomer as the 'City's best kept secret'.

Mr Hunt says partners pride themselves on their special client relationships.Admitted in 1968 he says he has always been a litigator.

He developed an insurance company practice and became the solicitor to the Transport and General workers Union.

Aware of his politics the union stuck by the adage, 'better the devil they knew than the angel they didn't', he says.

It was during his time with the TGWU that he briefed Tony Blair.In government, David Hunt was one of the few 'wets' who earned Mrs Thatcher's respect and trust.

'I was never, as she would put it, "one of us".

But because I was trusted I did see a lot of Margaret Thatcher.' He describes her leadership in the Falklands as 'like a beacon' at a time of 'confusion' in the House of Commons.

'You have to admire the way in which some people suddenly find their place in history in the way they respond to a crisis.

You could always rely on Margaret Thatcher in a crisis.'He is also one of few ministers to witness her softer side.

He recalls late one night at the beginning of the Falklands crisis sitting with her in the whips' office when news came through that HMS Sheffield had been lost.

'She just burst into tears.

Then suddenly stiffened and said "we must go on, we owe it to all those who have just perished.

" He also remembers the most difficult conversation he had with Mrs Thatcher was when he had to explain why he was voting for Michael Hesletine and not John Major after she resigned from the leadership contest.

'I did so by telling her that he was the strongest, I thought she would understand that.

At the time I did not think John Major was ready to be prime minister.' However, he says, he has since been proved wrong.Three years ago Mr Hunt himself was five to one to lead the party.

Did he ever see himself as leader? 'No, at the time the poll was taken I seemed to attract some support, but it was never on my mind that that was anything real.' However, he says he talked himself out of his last job by writing to Mr Major and telling him he thought that his post as co-ordinator and presenter of government policy should be performed by a deputy prime minister, such as Douglas Hurd or Michael Hesletine.Although described as a 'self-effacing' politician with 'easy charm' in Roth's Parliamentary Profiles, Mr Hunt has not always got on with everyone.

He has particularly harsh words for Arthur Scargill, his adversary in the miners' strike, branding him 'uncompromising and impossible to negotiate with.' This month on Radio 4's 'Any Questions' the two men met again.

'He is still the same.

He refused to come to the informal meal we had beforehand.

He has not changed his views, and he has never spoken to me since the miners' strike.' He further recalls: 'Once I went on TV with Arthur Scargill and he walked off the set when I appeared because he said I had been dealing with scabs.' But the miners' strike showed Mr Hunt to be a very successful negotiator, recognised quickly by Mrs Thatcher who promoted him to under secretary for energy half-way through the strike.If t he strike was his greatest moment then perhaps his biggest political misfortune was the poll tax.

Although he only became local government minister after the poll tax legislation had been passed, in 1989 Mr Hunt was the person Mrs Thatcher appointed to bring it in.

'She thought that I had presentational skills.

But even my presentational skills weren't good enough to convince the nation that it was a fair tax.' Mr Hunt says that deep down he knew this and made approaches to the prime minister to reform it.

Together with Chris Patten -- also charged with bringing in the poll tax- he proposed a 'transitional relief scheme' aimed at compensating the poll tax losers.Clearly Mr Hunt has some valuable testimony from his life in government, but he has no plans to reveal it in memoirs or diaries.

He feels as a solicitor he must be regarded as a man who does not betray confidences.

Neither is he impressed with the ministerial accounts published by other ministers.

He describes Alan Clark's diaries as 'fiction', detailing incidents of meetings which he says he has no recollection of, even though he was there himself.

And unlike some of his parliamentary colleagues who have already announced their intention to stand down at the next election Mr Hunt has declared his intention to fight on.

Quite simply, he says, 'I believe we can still win.'As for the legal profession? 'I do think the Law Society and the profession needs strong leadership.' Whether he believes Martin Mears fits that bill he will not say until he meets him next month.

'I did vote for Mr Hodge.

But I never judge people until I have had an opportunity of hearing what they have to say.'