Kwasi Kwarteng.

[northwestman]

Tries to pin all the debacle on Truss.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/10/kwarteng-told-truss-to-slow-down-radical-measures-after-mini-budget

Kwasi Kwarteng has revealed he told Liz Truss to “slow down” and warned her she would “have two months” if she continued at the same rate with her radical mini-budget measures.

Kwarteng, who was sacked as chancellor last month by the then-prime minister after less than six weeks in the job, also criticised the “mad” decision to dismiss him for implementing her tax-cutting agenda.

The government’s £45bn tax cuts triggered economic turmoil, with government borrowing costs soaring, the pound plummeting to a 37-year low and the Bank of England intervening to rescue £65bn worth of pension funds.

Truss subsequently resigned after 45 days in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.

“I think she genuinely thought that that (sacking me) was the right thing to buy her more time to set her premiership on the right path.

“I disagreed, obviously. I thought that if chancellors are sacked by the prime minister for doing what the prime minister campaigned on, that leaves the prime minister in a very weak position.”

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.”

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.”

[davycrockett]

He deserved sacking. Surely by now saying he knew it was the wrong thing to do and warned Truss yet just carried on regardless he was simply trying to please the already failing PM. He could have said no way, delayed the budget but no he stood side by side with Truss defending it yet we now know not believing a word he was saying…… Should be the end of his career.

[northwestman]

Kwarteng’s attempt to offload some of the responsibility for what went wrong on to Truss has been criticised by journalists, commentators and opposition MPs – not least because Kwarteng gave an interview on the Sunday after the mini-budget implying he wanted to go further.

[northwestman]

Slightly confusing thing about this from Kwasi Kwarteng is he seems to be suggesting he told Liz Truss to slow down AFTER the mini-budget. But really it was the measures IN the budget that were the issue and his suggestion that there was more to come.

[northwestman]

www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/11/bring-back-boris-johnson-kwasi-kwarteng-tells-rishi-sunak

Rishi Sunak should “swallow some pride” and bring back the “electoral force” that is Boris Johnson, the former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said.

Kwarteng, who announced earlier this week that he would be standing down as an MP at the general election, also said the prime minister needed to “work on his outreach” with backbench Tory MPs also thinking about quitting.

The MP’s candid criticism of his party leader on Sunday came amid fresh indications of a renewed clamour among supporters of Johnson for him to return in some form, with calls in the Mail and Sunday and Sunday Telegraph as the Tories face a potential electoral wipeout.

The MP, who oversaw the ill-fated “mini-budget” under the short-lived government of Liz Truss, said the prime minister had not called him to ask him to change his mind after announcing that he would not stand again as an MP.

Kwarteng, who represents Spelthorne, in Surrey, said his decision to stand down had been a personal one because it was time “to move on” but conceded that his party’s poor standing in the polls was also a factor.

This is surely confirmation that Kwarteng is both egotistical and totally unhinged. Thankfully, he is removing himself from the Commons. That said, I can well believe that some of his desperate colleagues are seriously hoping that Johnson could return in some capacity.