Kwasi Kwarteng to be sacked, Times political editor reports

Liz Truss could be firing her chancellor less than six weeks into the job

Kwasi Kwarteng portrait

UPDATE: The BBC has now reported that Kwarteng has now been sacked.

Kwasi Kwarteng is set to be sacked as chancellor of the exchequer, the political editor of The Times has claimed.

Steven Swinford – The Times’ political editor tweeted, “EXCLUSIVE: I’m told that Kwasi Kwarteng is being sacked as Chancellor as Liz Truss prepares to reverse the mini-Budget Not clear who will be replacing him Events moving very, very quickly this morning No 10 not commenting”.

The Guardian‘s political editor Pippa Crerar has since also tweeted that she has heard from Number 10 sources that Kwarteng will be sacked.

The reports come as Liz Truss is set to deliver a press conference this afternoon, in which she is widely expected to reverse key planks of the disastrous ‘mini-budget’. According to reports in The Times, Truss is set to announce a rise in corporation tax. In the ‘mini-budget’, Kwarteng had scrapped plans that the previous chancellor Rishi Sunak had set out to raise corporation tax to 25 per cent.

Kwarteng has today returned to the UK a day early from the USA, where he had been engaged in meetings with the International Monetary Fund. Reports of his sacking come as the government continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. One recent opinion poll found just 19 per cent of the public would vote for the Tories if an election were held now.

Before retuning to the UK, Kwarteng was asked whether he would be in his job in a month’s time. He said, “Absolutely. 100%. I’m not going anywhere.”

Having been in post for 38 days, should Kwarteng be sacked he would be the second shortest serving chancellor since the second world war.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: UK parliament – Creative Commons

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