Kwasi Kwarteng had earlier worked at the Treasury before his brief stint as chancellor
(Picture: Getty Images)Kwasi Kwarteng has resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer because of the backlash to his mini-budget. He was recalled from an IMF meeting in Washington DC and met the prime minister, Liz Truss, on Friday October 14, who asked for his resignation.
He had earlier hit a record low approval rating because of the mayhem caused by his mini-budget, according to a poll, which revealed 65 per cent of people in the UK were dissatisfied with him.
His U-turn in ditching his plan to axe the 45p top rate of income tax was not enough to save him and, after he went, Truss announced she was reversing a plan to scrap an increase in corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent planned by the previous government. The rise will therefore go ahead.
The new Chancellor of the Exchequer is Jeremy Hunt. So who is Kwarteng, and how did he come to be chancellor?
How did Kwarteng get the job of chancellor?
Truss made Kwarteng the chancellor when she was elected leader of the Conservative Party. He was in the role from September 6 to October 14, just 38 days, the shortest period since Iain Mcleod in 1970 who survived only 30 days in post.
Kwarteng was previously Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, and before that, was the parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department for Exiting the European Union.
Additionally, Kwarteng has worked as parliamentary private secretary to the leader of the House of Lords, and parliamentary private secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Chancellor was elected the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010, and previously held positions on the transport select committee, the work and pensions select committee, and the public accounts committee.
Before becoming an MP, Kwarteng worked as an analyst in financial services, after studying at Cambridge University and Harvard University, earning a PhD in economic history at the former.
What does the Chancellor of the Exchequer do?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Government’s chief financial minister.
The chancellor is responsible for raising revenue through taxes or borrowing, as well as controlling public spending.
The chancellor’s responsibilities include presenting the annual Budget, setting inflation targets, ministerial arrangements, and overall responsibility for the Treasury’s response to Covid-19.
Before Kwarteng took on the role, Nadhim Zahawi was Chancellor of the Exchequer between July 5, 2022 and September 6, 2022, 63 days.
Rishi Sunak held the title from 2020 until 2022, taking over from Sajid Javid, who was chancellor from 2019 to 2020.
Philip Hammond, George Osborne, Alistair Darling, and Gordon Brown have all also been chancellors.
