Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor three weeks after his mini-budget unleashed chaos in the UK economy.
He was appointed to the role by Liz Truss only 38 days ago.
Mr Kwarteng’s downfall was set in motion by the mini-budget on 23 September, in which he announced £45bn in unfunded tax cuts.
The mini-budget pushed the pound to a record low against the dollar, sent the cost of government borrowing and mortgage rates up and led to an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England.
In Mr Kwarteng’s letter to Ms Truss, he said: “You have asked me to stand aside as your chancellor. I have accepted.”
He said he accepted the job “in full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult, with rising global interest rates and energy prices”.
But he said the PM’s “vision of optimism, growth and change was right” and “following the status quo was simply not an option”.
He finished his letter by saying they have been “colleagues and friends for many years” and he believes her “vision is the right one”.
“It has been an honour to serve as your first chancellor. Your success is this country’s success and I wish you well,” he wrote.
Moments later, he was seen leaving No 11 Downing Street and was driven away from the home he had only occupied for just over a month.
Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng, who have been close friends for years, insisted that the turbulence in the UK economy was part of a global problem exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and post-pandemic recovery.
But last week, after open revolt by Tory MPs and a record surge for Labour in the polls, the prime minister announced the first major reversal of mini-budget policies when she backtracked on scrapping the 45p top rate of income tax.
The second U-turn is expected to come on Friday afternoon, with the government set to raise corporation tax from 19% to 25% next April, despite promising not to do so in the mini-budget.
Less than an hour earlier, Mr Kwarteng had landed back in London after cutting short meetings with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.
He had been due to make a medium-term fiscal statement on 31 October.
The Conservative Party has now had four chancellors in the past three years – Mr Kwarteng, Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.
And the next chancellor, who will be chosen by Ms Truss, will be the seventh Tory chancellor in 12 years.
While the PM’s focus will be on choosing a new chancellor, there is set to be a renewed focus on whether Ms Truss can remain in the job.
A Tory MP told Sky News: “The idea that the prime minister can just scapegoat her chancellor and move on is deluded.
“This is her vision. She signed off on every detail and she defended it.” Sky News
Kwarsi Kwarteng was way in too deep for this job. Was just not cut out for it. He is too bookish, maybe from academia. His fiscal shenenigans started a financial fire. He tried as much to contain the damage but kept fumbling. At the end its not really Kwarsi’s fault. Liz Truss is leading the conservatives to political oblivion. Kwarsi Should have taken notes from Mthuli Ncube or Gordon Brown.
Maurice Maswiswi Gordon Brown was a financial genius in that regard!
I personally believe Mthuli Ncube came too late or in the wrong time!
Ordinary people like ourselves don’t know now who to blame?
The ministers or the systems!!
Ncagu Sbhamusogodo KaSibungusodaka…the problem with Britain was the covid effects, Brexit costs and the looming high energy bills by households as a result of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Kwarsi needed to calculate the cost of subsidy and where it was going to come from. Duh heh! In times of crisis, a government would either dip into reserves to cushion for subsidies or tax. I purposefully put in Liz Truss’ name in the matrix. It represents any leader protecting or sacrificing the Finance Minister. Gordon Brown was a financial genious as you rightfully say..but then again, the 90’s London was fattening with Russian Oligarchs’ deposits. The world knows that. But to Gordon Brown’s credit he made sure London kept its image as the finance capital of the entire world, creating jobs and investments for the benefits of Her Majesty’s people. Mthuli on the other hand is a hands on problem solver. He listens to requests for $ and puts it into economic logic. He goes on the ground to inspect projects and talks to folks in rural lupane/muzarabani and wherever. He knows how to separate a problem into components and solves according to the set policy document. Kwasi did not have such luxury. Maybe if he had had the backing of a powerful PM in the mould of Boris Johnson or a President like ED, he could have succeeded. Leaving UK Politics asides (as the ama 2000 say Zvinei nesu…whats that got to do with us.) closer to home. The Finance Ministers from 1997-2013 could all have been born of one mother and same A Level economics tutor…chances are they could do the same thing if history were to repeat itself. Survival does not give you liberty to be creative economically. You politik on a day by day basis. But one thing for sure countries such as Zambia/Tanzania/Botswana and Nigeria sending technos to study how Mthuli does it is no small feat. Yes, he works in a bubble with other organs, but he is damn too good.
Ordinary citizens like ourselves don’t know who to blame nowadays?
The ministers or the systems??