An attempt by Government minister Nadhim Zahawi to blame Vladimir Putin for failing to apologise over the mini-budget chaos led to howls of laughter from the BBC Question Time audience.
A swift U-turn was needed on measures by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng - which led to market turmoil with the price of the pound dropping to record levels against the dollar.
With the country already facing worrying levels of inflation and sky high energy bills, this was another blow as some mortgage rates breached 6%.
