• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Elevenses
  • Business
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Property
  • JOBS
  • All
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Sport
    • Tech/Auto
    • Lifestyle
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Set For Life
      • Thunderball
      • EuroMillions
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Kwarteng breaks his silence – saying he told Truss to slow down on economic agenda

"She said 'I've only got two years' and I said, you'll have two months if you carry on like this."

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2022-11-11 07:56
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Kwasi Kwarteng has said he told Liz Truss to “slow down” her radical economic reforms or risk being out of No 10 within “two months”.

He also criticised the then-prime minister’s “mad” decision to sack him as chancellor for implementing her tax-cutting agenda, in a bombshell first interview since his ousting.

Kwarteng refused to apologise for the financial turmoil unleashed by his and Truss’s disastrous mini-budget, but acknowledged “there was turbulence and I regret that”.

He said the “strategic goal was right”, but “I think we should have had a much more measured approach”.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng reveals that he urged Liz Truss to "slow down" her economic plan, but she ignored him.

"She said 'I've only got two years' and I said, you'll have two months if you carry on like this."

In full at 10pm ► https://t.co/aJGdRkuLdo pic.twitter.com/loBnSNSYUc

— First Edition (@FirstEdition) November 10, 2022

Mini budget

He said he bore “some responsibility” for the timetable of the mini-budget, but that Ms Truss “was very much of the view that we needed to move things fast”.

“But I think it was too quick,” he added.

“Even after the mini budget we were going at breakneck speed. And I said, ‘You know, we should slow down, slow down’.”

“She said, ‘Well, I’ve only got two years’ and I said, ‘You will have two months if you carry on like this’. And I’m afraid that’s what happened.”

Tax cuts

On September 23, Mr Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century.

RelatedPosts

Trump reaches new levels of grifting as he launches ‘Victory’ fragrance

Donald Trump forgets name of Japanese PM – calls him ‘Mr Japan’

Donald Trump ‘considering cancelling Bob Vylan’s visas’ following Glastonbury controversy

Albanian PM delivers perfect response to Nigel Farage’s ‘post-Brexit delusion’

Using more than £70 billion of increased borrowing, he set out a package which included abolishing the top rate of income tax for the highest earners and axing the cap on bankers’ bonuses, on top of a massively expensive energy support package.

The mini-budget triggered turbulence in the financial markets, sending the pound tumbling, forcing the Bank of England’s intervention and pushing up mortgage rates.

Two days later, Kwarteng signalled more tax cuts were on the way, spooking markets further.

Asked repeatedly if he wanted to say sorry to the people facing extra costs in re-mortgaging, Kwarteng refused, saying: “I don’t want to relive the past.”

“Sorry”

He added: “I do feel sorry, actually, for the people who are going through this difficult time in terms of re-mortgaging.

“I’m not going to wash my hands of what we did, I think the strategic goals (were) the right thing, but as it said, the delivery and implementation, there was no real tactical plan, there was no real timetable for it and I think we should have done that.”

The ex-chancellor said he first learned of his firing via a tweet as he travelled to a meeting with Truss in Downing Street.

“I can’t remember whether she was actually shedding tears but she was very emotional,” he said.

Describing his thinking at that moment, he said: “This is mad. Prime ministers don’t get rid of chancellors.

“I think I said to her at the time, ‘This is going to last three or four weeks’.

“Little did I know it was only going to be six days.”

“She can’t fire me”

Kwarteng added: “She can’t fire me for just implementing what she campaigned on. And, you know, we had a conversation.

“And I think it was very much the view that somehow she would survive if I took the fall on that.”

Kwarteng insisted he and Truss were still “friends”, but said he had not returned a missed call from her several days ago.

Truss ended up resigning after only 44 days in office, with her economic measures swiftly ripped up by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and her successor in No 10, Rishi Sunak.

Sunak and Hunt cannot blame Truss’s government for the massive black hole in the nation’s finances, Kwarteng argued.

“The only thing that they could possibly blame us for is the interest rates and interest rates have come down and the gilt rates have come down,” he said.

“It wasn’t that the national debt was created by Liz Truss’s 44 days in government.”

Kwarteng also refused to endorse tax rises expected in his successor’s autumn budget next week.

“You’re not going to grow an economy, or incentivise economic growth by putting up our taxes,” he said.

Related: Comedian confronts Hancock over his lockdown affair with aide

Tags: kwasi kwartengLiz Truss

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lottery Results
    • Lotto
    • Set For Life
    • Thunderball
    • EuroMillions
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

← Comedian confronts Hancock over his lockdown affair with aide ← Economy shrinks in what could be start of long recession
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lottery Results
    • Lotto
    • Set For Life
    • Thunderball
    • EuroMillions
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

-->