After the catastrophic reception of his mini-budget, Kwasi Kwarteng has stepped down as Chancellor of the Exchequer just a few short weeks after he took on the role.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Kwarteng wrote: “You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted.
“When you asked me to serve as your Chancellor, I did so in the full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult, with rising global interest rates and energy prices. However, your vision of optimism, growth and change was right.
“As I have said many times in the past few weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation – that must still change if this country is to succeed.
With a new Cabinet member so soon into her term as prime minister, there are rising calls for a general election to either give Liz Truss a mandate or oust her from office.
Here’s how long Mr Kwarteng held the office and how his record holds up next to other short-term holders of the position.
Is Kwasi Kwarteng the shortest-serving chancellor?
Mr Kwarteng is not the shortest-serving chancellor, with Iain Macleod serving an even shorter term than him of just 30 days. This means that Kwarteng narrowly avoided holding that record by eight days.
Notably, apart from Macleod, three of the top four shortest-serving chancellors were all within the last few years, with various cabinet reshuffles and political scandals forcing office holders out of the position in recent times.
As well as Mr Kwarteng, both Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid are at the top of the list of brief Chancellors of the Exchequer.
Full list of shortest serving Chancellors of the Exchequer
Here’s a look at all of the Chancellors of the Exchequer who only held the position for a short time, in order of brevity:
- Iain Macleod, 30 days, 1970
- Kwasi Kwarteng, 38 days, 2022
- Nadhim Zahawi, 63 days, 2022
- Sajid Javid, 204 days, 2019-2020
- Stanley Baldwin, 307 days, 1922-1923
- Peter Thorneycroft, 358 days, 1957-1958
- Hugh Gaitskell, 374 days, 1950-1951
- Harold Macmillan, 390 days, 1955-1957
