London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2025

PM appoints Jeremy Hunt as chancellor after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng

PM appoints Jeremy Hunt as chancellor after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng

The former chancellor was only in the job for 38 days, with many spent trying to bat off criticism amid economic turmoil following his mini-budget announcement.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor three weeks after his mini-budget unleashed chaos on the economy and Jeremy Hunt appointed in his place.

Mr Kwarteng was appointed to the role by Liz Truss only 38 days ago, making him the second-shortest serving chancellor after Iain Macleod, who died a month after being handed the job by Edward Heath.

Number 10 announced an hour after his sacking on Friday afternoon that former foreign secretary Mr Hunt was replacing him.

Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as chancellor.


Mr Hunt's appointment, just an hour after his predecessor was sacked, is a sign Ms Truss is trying to get her opponents on side.

Mr Kwarteng's downfall was set in motion by the mini-budget on 23 September, in which he announced £45bn in unfunded tax cuts.

The mini-budget pushed the pound to a record low against the dollar, sent the cost of government borrowing and mortgage rates up and led to an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England.

Chris Philp, who was heavily involved in plans for the mini-budget, has also lost his job as chief secretary to the Treasury but has been moved to the Cabinet Office as paymaster general.

In Mr Kwarteng's letter to Ms Truss accepting he had been sacked, he said: "You have asked me to stand aside as your chancellor. I have accepted."

He said he accepted the job "in full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult, with rising global interest rates and energy prices".

But he said the PM's "vision of optimism, growth and change was right" and "following the status quo was simply not an option".

He finished his letter by saying they have been "colleagues and friends for many years" and he believes her "vision is the right one".

"It has been an honour to serve as your first chancellor. Your success is this country's success and I wish you well," he wrote.

Moments later, he was seen leaving No 11 Downing Street and was driven away from the home he had only occupied for just over a month.

Ms Truss replied to his letter by saying she is "deeply sorry to lose" him from government and said "I deeply respect the decision you have taken today" - despite her sacking him.

She said they "share the same vision" for the UK and praised him for the energy price guarantee and the energy bill relief scheme, saying "thanks to your intervention, families will be able to heat their homes this winter and thousands of jobs and livelihoods will be saved".

Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng, who have been close friends for years, have insisted over the past few weeks that the turbulence in the UK economy was part of a global problem exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and post-pandemic recovery.

But last week, after open revolt by Tory MPs and a record surge for Labour in the polls, the prime minister announced the first major reversal of mini-budget policies when she backtracked on scrapping the 45p top rate of income tax.

Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss have been close friends for a long time.


The second U-turn came on Friday afternoon, when Ms Truss confirmed the government will raise corporation tax from 19% to 25% next April, despite promising not to do so in the mini-budget.

An hour before being sacked, Mr Kwarteng had landed back in London after cutting short meetings with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.

He had been due to make a medium-term fiscal statement on 31 October, which will now be made by Mr Hunt.

The Conservative Party is now on its fifth chancellor in the past three years - Mr Hunt, Mr Kwarteng, Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.

Mr Hunt is the seventh Tory chancellor in 12 years.

There is now a renewed focus on whether Ms Truss can remain in the job.

A Tory MP told Sky News: "The idea that the prime minister can just scapegoat her chancellor and move on is deluded.

"This is her vision. She signed off on every detail and she defended it."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
×