Ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng who crashed economy says he'll quit as MP

06 February 2024 , 09:30

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Kwasi Kwarteng has said he's quitting as an MP at the next election (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)

Disaster Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said he will join the exodus of Tories leaving Parliament at the next election.

Mr Kwarteng, 48, who has an 18,393-strong majority in Spelthorne, in Surrey, told his constituency association on Monday that he would not fight the election. He tweeted: "It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in Parliament." He is the 57th Tory MP to announce their intentions to quit.

The top Tory was the architect of Liz Truss's calamitous mini-Budget, which spooked the markets and triggered the end of her premiership after just 49 days in No10. Ms Truss was forced to sack her long-time ally as their plans collapsed around them - and bring in Jeremy Hunt to the Treasury to steady the ship.

Kwasi Kwarteng was Chancellor for only 38 days during Liz Truss's doomed administration (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Kwarteng was ordered to cut short an International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington in October 2022 to fly back to the UK, where Ms Truss cut him adrift. He became the second shortest serving Chancellor in history by serving for only 38 days. Iain Macleod was made Chancellor in 1970 by Tory PM Edward Heath but he died in office a month later.

Mr Kwarteng later claimed that he had urged Ms Truss to “slow down, slow down” as the pair of them crashed the economy with a raft of unfunded tax cuts that set the pound plummeting against the dollar. He told Channel 4 last year: "I'm not going to apologise. I've said very clearly, you know, what was done was done, but I don't believe that politicians are endlessly, you know, apologising for everything that has gone in the past. I'm looking forward. And I think we could have done things differently, absolutely."

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Before he was exiled to the back benches, Ms Kwarteng held several other Government jobs, including Business Secretary under Boris Johnson and Brexit Minister during Theresa May's tenure in No10. He has served as an MP since 2010.

His announcement came shortly before his one-time ally Ms Truss was due to hold a launch rally for a new Popular Conservatism movement as she desperately tries to rehabilitate her image. The new faction - dubbed the PopCons in Westminster - aims to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut taxes, adopt hard line immigration policies and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Lizzy Buchan