Скачать или смотреть UK Finance Minister Sacked By PM Liz Truss After Tax Cut Fiasco

London: British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Friday dismissed her finance minister, forcing Kwasi Kwarteng to carry the can for turmoil sparked by her right-wing economic platform as restive Conservatives plotted her own demise.
The chancellor of the exchequer was dismissed in person by Truss after he rushed back early from international meetings in Washington, and before she was due to hold her first Downing Street news conference at 2:30 pm (1330 GMT).

Former foreign secretary and former Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt was appointed as Mr Kwarteng's replacement, making him Britain's fourth finance minister this year.

"You have asked me to stand aside as your chancellor. I have accepted," Mr Kwarteng wrote in a letter to Liz Truss, who only succeeded Boris Johnson on September 6.

But he insisted that their economic programme was needed because "the status quo was simply not an option".

In reply, Ms Truss wrote that Mr Kwarteng had "put the national interest first".

"I know that you will continue to support the mission that we share to deliver a low-tax, high-wage, high-growth economy that can transform the prosperity of our country for generations to come," she said.

Financial upheaval sparked by the new government's September 23 plan to slash taxes -- financed via billions in more borrowing -- has subsided somewhat since the Bank of England intervened in bond markets.

But the central bank was adamant it would end its bond-buying spree on Friday, and market analysts said only a bigger climbdown by Ms Truss following Mr Kwarteng's disastrous budget announcement last month would avert fresh panic.

Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics, told AFP Mr Kwarteng had been made "the fall guy for the government's mistakes" -- but that the sacking had not taken the pressure off Ms Truss or calmed the Tories.

"It's very hard to see them coming back from this" by the next election, he added.

'Not going anywhere'

Mr Kwarteng was due to have stayed in Washington this weekend to conclude annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, after earned a rebuke from IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on the need for "coherent and consistent" policies.

Speaking in Washington on Thursday, Mr Kwarteng had insisted that his job was safe. "I'm not going anywhere," he said.

But UK broadcasters showed live footage of Mr Kwarteng's British Airways plane landing at Heathrow airport a day early, after Ms Truss held hurried meetings with her own financial advisors on Thursday in his absence.

Speculation was rife that Liz Truss would row back on planned changes to corporation tax, having already changed her mind about cutting income tax for the highest earners.