Kwasi Kwarteng lasted just 38 days as chancellor of the exchequer, six fewer than David Blaine managed fasting in his glass box almost 20 years ago. Even Brian Clough got 44 days as Leeds United manager in 1974 in spite of his outspoken criticism of the team and its tactics under previous boss Don Revie.
Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget last month, which comprised £45 billion (€52bn) of unfunded tax cuts and £400 billion of extra borrowing, sent sterling crashing to its lowest point against the dollar in 37 years, and forced the Bank of England to intervene with an emergency gilt-buying programme.
The plan had been designed to supercharge the economy, but it only succeeded in portraying the Tories as an inept party for the rich.
Markets were so spooked that lenders began pulling their mortgage products, and many borrowers are now facing having to pay much higher interest rates for the same home loan they were seeking just over a month ago.
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Kwarteng’s departure from government has ushered in the return of former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was runner-up to Boris Johnson in the contest to become Tory leader and prime minister in 2019. He should bring some calm to the role and steady the ship.
In a humiliating U-turn on a key element of the mini-budget, prime minister Liz Truss conceded on Friday that corporation tax would rise from 19 per cent to 25 per cent next April – as planned by ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, her former rival for the party leadership. Truss said the move would raise £18 billion, helping to fill the £45 billion fiscal hole created by the mini-budget.
This followed an earlier embarrassing U-turn by Kwarteng on abolishing the top rate of income tax.
Speculation in Westminster now surrounds Truss’s position as PM. The reality is that her credibility has been thoroughly shredded by the events of the past six weeks and she is now an electoral liability.
She should outlast Clough but don’t bet on her beating the 67 days “Big” Sam Allardyce spent as England football manager in 2016 before being taken down by an undercover newspaper investigation.
