London: United Kingdom’s Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was on Friday removed from his post by Prime Minister Liz Truss, following their differences over last month`s mini-budget. Kwarteng, who cut short his visit to Washington for the IMF meeting to return to London as differences came up regarding the mini-budget provisions, reached 10 Downing Street to meet Truss, before the announcement of his removal. Kwarteng, who had thrown his hat in the fray for the leadership of the Conservative Party after Boris Johnson stepped down before backing Truss, was appointed to the key post by her but did not hold it for even 40 days.
This makes him the second shortest-serving UK Chancellor after Iain Macleod, who died of a heart attack 30 days after taking the job in 1970, the BBC said.
Truss is due to hold a news conference later Friday. She is under intense pressure to scrap some of the 43 billion pounds ($48 billion) in unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and led the Bank of England to step in to prevent a wider economic crisis. Senior members of the Conservative party were publicly advising the government to take action.
The pound rose as much as 1.7% against the dollar on Thursday and bond markets stabilised amid expectations that Truss and Kwarteng, whose formal title is chancellor of the Exchequer, will revise their economic growth plan. Truss, a free-market libertarian, came to power last month pledging to cut taxes to spur growth. But her ability to deliver on that commitment is now in doubt.
Since 2019, the UK has had four chancellors, including Rishi Sunak, who quit and contested for the leadership of the Conservative Party but lost to Truss last month, Nadhim Zahawi who served the third shortest tenure of 63 days under Johnson, and Sajid Javid who served 204 days – the fourth shortest tenure since the Second World War.
(With inputs from IANS, PTI)