Who is Kwasi Kwarteng? Sacked after 38 days, one of the shortest-serving chancellors ever

Britain's new finance minister was removed after first policy announcement sparked turmoil

Britain's former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng leaves 11, Downing Street. He has been sacked after weeks of economic chaos during his brief term in office. AP

Mr Kwarteng arriving at Downing Street. AP

Mr Kwarteng leaves Heathrow Airport in London, before travelling to Downing Street. Reuters

Mr Kwarteng leaves the stage after delivering his keynote speech to party members at the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. PA

Mr Kwarteng gives an interview on the second day of Conservative Party conference. Getty Images

Mr Kwarteng and Prime Minister Liz Truss on the opening day of the conference in Birmingham. Getty Images

Liz Truss meets Mr Kwarteng at the Conservative Party Conference. Photo: Andrew Parsons / CCHQ

Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng meet people from the Office for Budget Responsibility in No. 11 Downing Street, in September. Photo: No. 10 Downing Street

Mr Kwarteng leaving 11 Downing Street in September. Getty Images

Mr Kwarteng speaks online to the Ukrainian Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko in September. Photo: HM Treasury

Mr Kwarteng meets Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, at the Treasury in September. Photo: HM Treasury

Then as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Mr Kwarteng introduces Ms Truss as she launches her campaign to become the next prime minister in July. Getty Images

Mr Kwarteng speaks to delegates during Cop26 in Glasgow, in November 2021. Getty Images

Mr Kwarteng speaks at the press conference announcing Stellantis' investment in the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port plant to build new electric vehicles, in July 2021. Getty Images

Anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray demonstrates as Kwasi Kwarteng walks past him in London in November 2020. Getty Images

Kwasi Kwarteng racked up only 38 days in the role of the UK's finance minister, the second shortest period of anyone to hold the post.

He narrowly avoided being the shortest-tenured chancellor in British political history. In 1970, Iain Macleod died after a month in office. Mr Kwarteng's predecessor Nadhim Zahawi survived 63 days in the job before being replaced.

Mr Kwarteng was the first appointment by Prime Minister Liz Truss when she took office on September 6, with the pair intent on shaking up “Treasury orthodoxy”. He also became her first sacking.

Shortly after he returned to the UK after cutting short a trip to Washington for an International Monetary Fund meeting, he was given the news that he was the fall guy for the chaos that has engrossed Downing Street after his mini-budget, which unleashed market chaos.

Mr Kwarteng had hoped to take down the economic groupthink that he and Ms Truss saw as holding Britain back.

He was always likely to be a renegade.

For some, Mr Kwarteng, a committed supporter of Brexit, has form for playing down market movements, with the Evening Standard newspaper reporting overheard comments he made on the night Britain stunned markets by voting to leave the EU.

“Who cares if sterling crashes?” he reportedly said. “It will come back up again.”

After a 10-day hiatus due to the official mourning of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, he set about introducing his ideas in a mini-budget intended to spark growth in the UK's economy to raise it out of the doldrums caused by the Russia-fuelled energy crisis.

Instead, he saw his first fiscal statement take down the value of the pound, the bond market, his party's reputation for financial credibility and his own political career.

Attempts to see off the inevitable by bringing forward the date for his fiscal plan to October 31 failed and an about-turn on the plans appeared the only option to restore calm.

What is Kwasi Kwarteng's background?

Britain's first black chancellor, Mr Kwarteng, 47, is the son of Ghanaian immigrants. He attended Eton, one of Britain's most prestigious private schools, which has been the alma mater of numerous politicians.

Mr Kwarteng achieved a “double first” at the University of Cambridge in classics and history, and went on to attend Harvard University in the US.

He also managed to swear twice during an appearance on the long-running TV quiz programme University Challenge.

Kwasi Kwarteng carries his growth plan in Downing Street. Reuters

Plan to shake up economy

Charged with delivering Ms Truss's vision of running the country on a low-tax agenda, which persuaded Conservative members to choose her as leader over former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Mr Kwarteng fired the Treasury's most senior official and unveiled a series of unfunded tax cuts to try to turn “the vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth”.

What he unleashed was a vicious cycle of falling market confidence, flight from British assets and such damage to the British bond markets that the Bank of England was forced to start buying bonds.

It also led to a ticking off from the International Monetary Fund, which usually reserves such admonishments to emerging economies, not G7 members.

Mr Kwarteng battled hard to avoid rowing back on his plans or resigning. On the contrary, he was given public support by Ms Truss.

In the past few weeks she took to the airwaves in a quick-fire round of interviews in which she insisted she had the “right plan” for the country, and spoke at Conservative Party conference at which she was fulsome in her praise.

She defended Mr Kwarteng’s measures, insisting “urgent action” was needed, although she admitted the government’s decisions had been “controversial”.

However, investors, traders, government officials and even some politicians from the ruling Conservative Party were increasingly of the view that to fix the situation, policy reversals were necessary.

Ms Truss clearly felt Mr Kwarteng needed to go to attempt to put some distance between herself and the chancellor and save her premiership.

Tories in trouble

The Tories are in turmoil once more. Support for the governing Conservative Party has sunk, several polls have shown, with confidence in the leadership team shot to pieces.

A “dream ticket” of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt has been mooted to replace Ms Truss, but that would mean a third prime minister this year.

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, addressing Parliament for the first time since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies. Here, 'The National' looks at her time in power so far. AFP

Liz Truss speaks to Grant Shapps at Downing Street as he is appointed Home Secretary, after the resignation of Suella Braverman. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

A mural by artist Ciaran Gallagher in Belfast is updated to reflect Liz Truss's current political troubles. PA

Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announcing tax and spending measures at the House of Commons in London, with Liz Truss sitting on the bench behind him. AFP

Liz Truss gives a speech after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer. Reuters

A protest by climate change group Extinction Rebellion in central London. Ms Truss has said the group is part of an 'anti-growth coalition' with trade unions and the main opposition Labour Party. AFP

Ms Truss has come under increasing pressure during her short time as prime minister. AFP

An Extinction Rebellion protest outside Downing Street on the day Mr Kwarteng was removed from the government. AP

Ms Truss with members of the England women's football team and the European Championship trophy in Teddington, south-west London. Getty

Ms Truss arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. AP

Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary wave after her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. AP

Liz Truss gives a speech at the Conservative Party Conference. EPA

Ms Truss meets with Mr Kwarteng, chancellor of the exchequer at the time. Photo: Andrew Parsons / CCHQ

Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham. AFP

Ms Truss meets US President Joe Biden for talks at the UN headquarters in New York. PA

Ms Truss delivers a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. AP

The British prime minister holds a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. Reuters

Ms Truss meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN headquarters in New York. Reuters

Ms Truss speaks to the media during her visit to the Empire State building in New York. AP

Britain's new leader speaks during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, London. PA

Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary observe a minute's silence at Number 10 Downing Street following the death of the queen. Reuters

Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Truss leave after a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. AFP

Ms Truss joins the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and selected MPs to take the oath and swear allegiance to King Charles III in the House of Commons chamber. PA

King Charles during his first audience with Ms Truss at Buckingham Palace, London, following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images

Ms Truss gives a reading during a service of prayer and reflection, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Getty Images

The British prime minister makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street in London following the queen's death. Bloomberg

Ms Truss speaking during her first weekly Prime Minister's Questions session at the House of Commons in London. AFP

Front pages of a selection of British national newspapers, each leading with a story about Ms Truss becoming Britain's new prime minister. AFP

People walk past an image in central London of Ms Truss on the side of a protest bus calling for a citizens' assembly. Reuters

Ms Truss holds her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. Reuters

Ms Truss speaks at Downing Street on the day she took over as prime minister from Boris Johnson. EPA

Ms Truss poses with her husband Hugh O'Leary at Downing Street before entering as prime minister for the first time. EPA

Ms Truss is welcomed by staff in Downing Street as she enters the famous prime ministerial offices for the first time. Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

New Health Secretary Therese Coffey and Number 10 staff shelter from a downpour as they wait for Ms Truss to arrive in Downing Street. PA

Liz Truss makes a speech outside 10 Downing Street, London, after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister and form a new government. PA

Queen Elizabeth II greets the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Ms Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The queen invited Ms Truss to become prime minister and form a new government. Getty Images

Ally of Liz Truss

In Mr Kwarteng, Ms Truss picked a key ideological ally with whom she co-wrote a book that spells out a low-tax, small-state, deregulated vision of Britain.

A politician since 2010 and economic historian known for his intellect, some said Mr Kwarteng didn't have the experience to run the huge finance ministry.

A veteran Conservative source said before his appointment that the Treasury would “approve of his brain [but] disapprove of his independence”.

That desire to do things differently was exemplified when he immediately fired Tom Scholar as permanent secretary to the Treasury, with Mr Scholar saying “the chancellor decided it was time for new leadership.”

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the fallout from the mini-budget showed why economic “orthodoxy” should be welcomed as evidence-based knowledge.

“It needs testing and challenging but experience tells us that simply dismissing it is dangerous indeed,” he said on Twitter.

The determination of Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng to sideline doubting voices was also reflected in the make-up of the first Cabinet of ministers, where no backers of leadership rival Mr Sunak were given roles.

Mr Sunak had warned during the leadership campaign that Ms Truss's plans would put Britain's economic credibility in jeopardy but she dismissed his caution as “negative, declinist language”.

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng visit a factory in Kent on the day the chancellor delivered his mini-budget. Reuters