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Kwasi Kwarteng sacked as chancellor

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor three weeks after his mini-budget unleashed chaos in the economy, according to reports by the BBC and Sky News.

He was appointed to the role by Liz Truss only 38 days ago.

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.

The second U-turn is expected to come on Friday afternoon, with the government set to raise corporation tax from 19% to 25% next April, despite promising not to do so in the mini-budget.

Kwarteng had been in the US however less than an hour earlier, he had landed back in London after cutting short meetings with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.

Kwarteng second shortest-serving UK chancellor

It means Kwarteng is the second shortest-serving UK chancellor on record.

The shortest serving chancellor, Iain Macleod, died of a heart attack 30 days after taking the job in 1970.

Since 2019, the UK has had four chancellors, including Nadhim Zahawi who served the third shortest tenure with 63 days during a short-lived reshuffle under Boris Johnson, and Sajid Javid who served 204 days – the fourth shortest tenure since the Second World War.

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