Kwasi Kwarteng

British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng was fired on Friday, amid mounting political pressure and market chaos after less than six weeks in the role.

[Sterling](/quotes/GBP=/) whipsawed during a volatile session. "As I have said many times in the past few weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. [30-year yield](/quotes/UK30Y-GB/) briefly touched 4.261% during morning trade. I believe your vision is the right one. "We have been colleagues and friends for many years. "It is important now as we move forward to emphasise your government's commitment to fiscal discipline. Chris Philp, chief secretary to the Treasury, was also replaced by Edward Argar. In that time, I have seen your dedication and determination. "The economic environment has changed rapidly since we set out the Growth Plan on 23 September. [Bank of England](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/14/uk-cliff-edge-arrives-as-bank-of-england-prepares-to-end-bond-buying.html) to intervene in order to [save pension funds from collapse](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/14/uk-cliff-edge-arrives-as-bank-of-england-prepares-to-end-bond-buying.html), and a spike in mortgage rates for prospective homeowners. Kwarteng cut short a visit to Washington on Thursday to fly back to London as government ministers scrambled to address the market chaos unleashed in recent weeks. - Kwarteng cut short a visit to Washington on Thursday to fly back to London as government ministers scrambled to address the market chaos unleashed in recent weeks.

Kwarteng's political demise seems likely to go into political history as a tale of hubris: a minister so certain of his beliefs and impatient with others' views ...

His parents – an economist and a barrister – emigrated from Ghana as students. Instead it was over in 38 days. It also emerged that he had decided to attend a [a thoughtful book](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/30/ghosts-of-empire-what-kwasi-kwartengs-book-tells-us-about-him) about the legacy of the British empire. Five weeks and three days later, he is gone. [much more was to come](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/25/kwarteng-uk-economy-must-expect-more-tax-cuts-and-deregulation).

British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Friday dismissed her finance minister, forcing Kwasi Kwarteng to carry the can for turmoil sparked by her right-wing ...

"Do it now," Mel Stride, chairman of the Treasury select committee in the House of Commons, urged Kwarteng and Truss earlier Friday. However, a new YouGov poll for The Times newspaper said 43 percent of Conservative voters want a new prime minister in Downing Street. That programme now lies in tatters, and Truss's judgement is in question more than ever, after Sunak's warnings were entirely vindicated: higher borrowing to pay for tax cuts served only to terrify the markets and drive up borrowing costs for millions of Britons. Kwarteng was due to conclude annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington this weekend, after earning a rebuke from IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on the need for "coherent and consistent" policies. A Treasury spokesman confirmed Kwarteng had cut short the trip "to continue work on his medium-term fiscal plan" due on October 31, after Truss held hurried meetings with her own financial advisors on Thursday in his absence. The chancellor of the exchequer was dismissed in person by Truss after he rushed back early from international meetings in Washington, multiple media reports said, and she was due later to hold her first Downing Street news conference.

The UK national broadcaster said Prime Minister Liz Truss has fired Kwarteng, but Downing Street declined to comment.

Chancellor makes early return from IMF meeting in Washington amid rumours around his job and that of prime minister Liz Truss.

The growth plan (is) the centrepiece, but we’ll have to see some of the detail including a full forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility on the 31st of October. The government will make responses as appropriate as events happen, but the absolute commitment is to publish the medium-term fiscal plan. He’s coming back for discussions with colleagues, we obviously have the medium-term fiscal plan coming up on 31 October, so just in a couple of weeks’ time. But that’s not to say that we can’t reset and I think there is the time to do that. He said he hopes Kwarteng is flying home from the US early to have conversations with Liz Truss and row back on tax cuts. It was more likely to lead I’m afraid in the kind of lack of confidence that’s been in the markets over the last few weeks. The fact that people were speculating about the prime minister’s leadership this early in her premiership is not ideal but I think he’s just got to bite the bullet. It quoted one senior Tory as saying that a “coronation won’t be that hard to arrange”. Markets have seen some stabilisation on the news of a potential U-turn, Stride told BBC Breakfast. “It is quite unusual for this to happen,” he said. Weighed down by huge global problems, Callaghan told reporters at Heathrow “I don’t think other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos.” Beleaguered chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s sudden return to London recalls the troubles faced by prime minister James Callaghan in January 1979.

Kwarteng, a close ally of U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, has come under heavy criticism for his mini-budget which triggered a slump in the pound and other ...

After the initial indication that she and her government would push forward with the budget, Truss was [forced](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/10/03/uk-ditches-tax-cuts-for-richest-amid-growing-backlash-and-market-mayhem/?sh=5c8220fa2efe) to climb down and scrap the planned tax cut for high earners after facing strong opposition from other members of her party. If implemented, the policy would have significantly increased government borrowing, something that spooked markets late September and caused the pound to [Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as UK chancellor ahead of tax cut U-turn](https://www.ft.com/content/63ac7dab-d8e4-412c-a910-c0013fdf7f3d) (Financial Times) [Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as chancellor after sacking Kwarteng](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/14/liz-truss-appoints-jeremy-hunt-as-chancellor-after-sacking-kwarteng) (The Guardian) The report notes that many of these senior lawmakers include former cabinet ministers who believe Kwarteng was simply carrying out Truss’ policies and therefore she should be the one who should have stepped down. Truss had vowed to enact sweeping tax cuts if she was voted into power, ignoring concerns that this would further fuel inflation. Late last month, Kwarteng unveiled a mini-budget that included tax cuts that would mostly benefit the wealthiest Britons along with other tax cuts, while also attempting to subsidize spiraling energy costs for households and businesses.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss was propelled into high office by her bold promises to supercharge the country's flagging economy with big tax ...

23 announcement of the government’s new “Growth Plan,” which would be propelled by the “biggest package of tax cuts in generations,” caused the currency to tank and the central bank to step in to calm markets. Liz Truss’ reckless approach has crashed the economy, causing mortgages to skyrocket, and has undermined Britain’s standing on the world stage." Kwarteng lasted just 38 days in the job. I was shocked at how brutal it was.” Kwarteng, a free-marketeer and zealous Brexiteer, flew home to London from Washington earlier on Friday, as British newspapers tracked his flight. Well-to-do Brits pay a top rate of 45 percent on annual income over £150,000 ($168,000). “It is important now as we move forward to emphasize your government’s commitment to fiscal discipline.” He now becomes Britain’s fourth chancellor in four months, taking over economic policy portfolio at a moment the Bank of England is forecasting a recession this winter. Hunt lost the Conservative Party leadership race to Boris Johnson in 2019. She has been in office for less than six weeks. In that contest, he favored cutting corporate taxes. Britain’s top stock index, the FTSE 100, was essentially flat.

Prime Minister Liz Truss fires Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as she reverses course on sweeping tax cuts.

She has been under intense pressure to scrap some of the 43 billion pounds ($48bn) in unfunded tax cuts in the “mini budget”. Under the “mini budget”, the tax was due to be frozen at 19 percent. [Kwarteng](/news/2022/9/22/who-is-kwasi-kwarteng-and-what-is-his-plan-for-the-uks-economy) confirmed that he was asked to “step aside” as chancellor on Friday. “This is potentially an effort by the prime minister to reach across the aisle and try to secure some unity in her very troubled party.” Truss said she was acting to “reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline” and promised to press on with other aspects of her economic plan, saying, “I want to deliver a low tax, high wage, high growth economy.” Kwarteng’s departure comes after a month in the job — and three weeks after he announced a tax-cutting “mini budget” that sent the pound plunging to record lows against the US dollar.

Ms Truss is later expected to announce a U-turn on business tax cuts - a key Kwarteng policy - at a press conference later. Mr Kwarteng is the second shortest- ...

The Bank of England has been buying government bonds - known as gilts - to try to stabilise their price and prevent a sell-off that could put some pension funds at risk of collapse. Ms Truss's pledge to cut taxes was at the heart of the economic agenda that won her the Tory leadership at the start of September. [U-turned on her plan to scrap the top rate of income tax](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63114279) and some Tory MPs believe another change of course is inevitable. Ms Truss is shortly expected to announce a U-turn on business tax cuts - one of her key policies. In a letter to the PM, Mr Kwarteng said her vision for economic growth was "right" and he still supported it. Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor amid intense speculation Prime Minister Liz Truss is about to junk key parts of their economic plan.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor of the Exchequer, was fired on Friday by Prime Minister Liz Truss in a bid to end weeks of market turmoil.

“Even though we may have pulled back from the abyss,” she added, “we’re not in a positive position.” The pound was trading below $1.12, lower than where it was before the government’s policy statement on Sept. But then the pound weakened again after Ms. Truss would backtrack on some of the tax cuts, said Jane Foley, a strategist at Rabobank, and there was only a “teeny little” response to the dismissal of Mr. The British currency rose slightly after Ms. It was the fledgling government’s second major U-turn from the agenda it set out on Sept.

In a move to calm financial markets and her own Conservative Party, Prime Minister Liz Truss canceled planned tax cuts for corporations and replaced Kwasi ...

That [prompted the Bank of England](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125859448/the-british-economy-is-in-freefall-with-a-rare-intervention-by-the-bank-of-engla) to step in to prevent a crisis. As confidence and anticipation have grown for further changes, the pound inched up in value on Thursday and bond markets stabilized some. [record low](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/26/1125080014/british-pound-record-low-dollar) against the dollar. "When you asked me to serve as your Chancellor, I did so in full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult, with rising global interest rates and energy prices," Kwarteng said in his departure letter. He and Truss held urgent talks in Downing Street shortly after his return to London. Then hours later, she announced a U-turn on their economic package, attempting to calm financial markets and reinforce her shaky leadership position little more than a month after taking office.

Kwarteng had insisted on Thursday that he was “not going anywhere”. But on Friday, he tweeted a letter addressed to Truss, stating that he was no longer ...

A supporter of Brexit, Kwarteng backed Boris Johnson’s prime ministerial bid, and served as a Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in his administration. Born and raised in London in 1975, Kwarteng is the only child of his Ghanaian parents who came to Britain in the 1960s as students. He also pledged £45bn of tax cuts, the biggest reductions in the past 50 years. It was considered to benefit all taxpayers — both individuals and companies — to varying degrees. These changes were aimed at kick-starting a stagnating UK economy and containing the country’s record rates of Kwarteng had insisted on Thursday that he was “not going anywhere”.

Kwasi Kwarteng is out as UK chancellor but his brief tenure at the top of the UK economy may have been helpful for some trading desks at US investment banks ...

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) in the first instance. ](https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/login/register?cm_sp=editorial_registration) Morgan Stanley cited "strength in macro products on high client engagement and volatility in the markets," as the source of the 33% year-on-year increase in its fixed income sales and trading revenues in the third quarter. Citi said today that revenues in its macro trading division rose 18% year-on-year in the third quarter. [ Sajid Javid](https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2018/04/sajid-javid-banker-home-secretary), a former CDO banker at Deutsche Bank, would replace Kwarteng as he's the only one close to Truss with any credibility in the markets. Revenues from trading spread (credit) products were down 39%.

The UK prime minister has already abandoned Kwarteng's big tax cut, and she's preparing even more humiliating economic reversals.

But they had also been waiting on Kwarteng’s return from the US — he was fired after returning from a shortened visit to Washington for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund. She could either stick to her guns and face the prospect of more market chaos, or shred her reputation by changing tack. That is due to end on Friday, adding pressure on the government to act. The details are unclear as to which bits of her plan Truss will unpick. Truss later on Friday plans to unpick parts of Kwarteng’s strategy — officially called the Growth Plan — according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing unannounced plans. Kwarteng’s deputy, Chris Philp, was replaced with Edward Argar, with Philp moving to a ministerial post in the cabinet office.

Sterling fell, FTSE 100 lost its gains and bond yields rose after PM's press conference failed to announce new direction.

It suggests there was a drop in demand for emergency cash from certain pension funds that last month were at risk of collapse. The writing was on the wall when markets surged in anticipatory delight on the news that another post-budget U-turn was imminent and moves on corporation tax have gone a long way to bolstering sentiment today. Government bonds rallied before she spoke, pushing yields – the interest rate in relation to the price of the bond – sharply lower. We’re awaiting answers and in some ways I’m surprised the markets haven’t reacted more negatively.” Sterling fell 1.3% to $1.1188 on a rollercoaster day for the currency. However, the prime minister’s appearance erased almost all of its advance in afternoon trading, with the blue chip index up just 8 points at 6,858 on the day.