Kwasi Kwarteng

Cabinet reshuffle also sees Chloe Smith become secretary of state for the DWP.

“The best advice I ever received on becoming a minister was to identify a small number of big priorities and concentrate on these. Progress in relation to pensions has been hampered by the political backdrop such as Brexit, Tory infighting and the pandemic. “Pensions by their very nature are long-term and complicated and Smith will need time in the role to ensure that any changes in policy are carefully planned and crucially don’t create unintended consequences down the road. What’s more, while Kwarteng and Truss claim tax cuts will stimulate growth, they are likely to face criticism if they are not seen to be doing enough to help the poorest in the country. “Tax will be a hot topic in the coming weeks as Truss made a number of substantial promises during her leadership campaign. He was previously secretary of state at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

But there was little secret made of who was going to get the top Treasury job under Prime Minister Liz Truss – her long-time friend and political ally Kwasi ...

Mr Kwarteng was a passionate advocate for leaving the EU and joined the campaign. But it was his backing for Boris Johnson to become leader of the Conservative Party that ensured his promotion to business minister in 2019, and then to secretary of state for the department in January 2021. However, being an MP did not stop his other pursuits, and in 2011 he had three books published in the space of a month – including a book on the legacy of the British Empire, “Ghosts of Empire”. He also made the Conservative list of candidates for the London Assembly in 2008, but didn’t manage to secure a place – with the Tories only taking three seats and him placing in sixth. He went on to get a first class degree in classics and history at Trinity College, as well as being a member of its winning University Challenge team – although dropping an F-bomb during the show got him in a little hot water and on the front-page of The Sun. He was a high achiever, being awarded the Harrow History Prize in 1988 – a prize George Orwell once missed out on – and soon he headed to Eton College as a King’s Scholar, meaning he was awarded a scholarship due to his impressive exam results.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng met market leaders this morning (Wednesday) to set out the government's new, pro-growth economic approach.

Mr Kwarteng stressed that the government will support the economy to grow. The Chancellor was clear this will mean necessary higher borrowing in the short-term whilst ensuring monetary stability and fiscal discipline over the medium term. Kwasi Kwarteng began by acknowledging the extraordinary challenges that families and businesses across the UK are facing this Winter, exacerbated by Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

After eight long weeks of hustings, we finally have a new Prime Minister, and a shiny new cabinet to work alongside her.

The second “urgent responsibility” according to Kwarteng is to look to the future and the enduring “health and wealth” of both the economy and the country. With a background in banking and experience as a ministerial aide to a former Chancellor, Kwarteng should stand as good a chance as any to give the economy the boost it needs and to follow through on making Britain a “wealth creating” nation. Acknowledging the “extraordinary challenges” facing the country because of covid and the war on Ukraine, Kwarteng wrote, “we have to be bold”. He called for this in the form of “fiscal loosening” and re-iterated the prime minister’s pro-growth stance. He then moved on to be a junior minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union before a promotion placed him as minister of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Kwarteng also got involved in Conservative politics as chair of the Bow Group think tank, remarking that politics was “always something [he] was drawn to”.

Kwarteng, 47, inherits an economy expected to plunge into deep recession as inflation soars at a time of ballooning debt and soaring government borrowing ...

He is likely to want to shake up the Treasury, given reports of his annoyance at its tendency to over-complicate measures, but has rowed back on speculation he will look to end the independence of the Bank of England. Liz Truss is leaving Mr Kwarteng with a challenging task as experts raise concerns over the lack of any headroom in the public finances to fund her plans. Writing recently in the Financial Times, Mr Kwarteng said he was relaxed about increasing the UK’s sky-high levels of borrowing to help the economy weather the crisis. Mr Kwarteng also attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship before going on to earn a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000. He began his early career as a journalist and wrote for the Daily Telegraph as well as being a published author including a book about the legacy of the British Empire. He was a member of the winning University Challenge team on the BBC in 1995.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer as Liz Truss takes on the mantle of prime minister.

"In its aftermath, coupled with the many other global issues from supply chain bottlenecks to the devastating ongoing war in Ukraine, the country now faces a rapidly slowing economy and rising interest rates," he explained. In the immediate term, the new prime minister reiterated her commitment to dealing with energy bills in order to prevent a predicted 9.2 million households entering fuel poverty next year. [Liz Truss named UK Prime Minister: The green economy reacts](https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/news/4055812/liz-truss-named-uk-prime-minister-green-economy-reacts)

City A.M. introduces you to some of Liz Truss's key government ministers. Who are they? What has their journey been so far?

It remains to be seen, however, if he will look to overhaul the Bank’s increasingly out-dated inflation mandate in what is set to be just one of the many dilemmas the new Chancellor must face. He is likely to want to shake up the Treasury, given reports of his annoyance at its tendency to over-complicate measures, but has rowed back on speculation he will look to end the independence of the Bank of England. In the piece, he said: “Given the severity of the crisis we face, there will need to be some fiscal loosening to help people through the winter. Writing in the Financial Times recently, Kwarteng made it clear he is relaxed about bumping up the UK’s already sky-high levels of borrowing to help the economy weather the crisis. Kwarteng has been a close political ally of new Prime Minister Liz Truss for years and is in tune with her promises to slash taxes and loosen the purse strings to prop up the economy. He also attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship before going on to earn a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK's new chancellor of the exchequer, said the government will pursue sweeping financial reforms to unleash growth and competitiveness ...

A letter, signed by 189 college leaders, and the Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes, has been sent to the new occupant of 11 Downing Street ...

Cutting VAT on skills and paying college staff better will deliver the economic growth the new PM has promised.” Supporting colleges must be at the top of his priority list. Unlike consumers, educational establishments including colleges are not protected by an energy price cap, meaning some colleges are now facing bills four-times higher than they were used to paying. Colleges are struggling to recruit and retain staff due to teachers being able to earn more in industry, or schools where average pay is £9,000 a year higher. Colleges in England operate from 4,500 buildings across 800 sites. In recent years, energy has cost the FE sector around £130 million annually.

"There's a lot of pressure on Kwasi Kwarteng," as the political longevity of new Prime Minister Liz Truss will be intimately tied to her performance, ...

They will "put money back into people's pockets" and businesses to revive an economy on the brink of recession, he said in an op-ed in the Financial Times on Monday. Given his background in the Conservative Party, Mr. The son of Ghanaian immigrants who came to the U.K. Kwarteng will first have to implement the tax cuts promised by Liz Truss. The enthusiastic Brexit supporter and early backer of Ms. A polyglot - he reportedly dares to write poetry in Latin - and a history and music buff, the new Chancellor is little known to the British public: fewer than one in two had heard of him before his appointment, according to YouGov.

New chancellor promises City bosses 'radical' plan for economic growth and smooths over Truss's threat to review Bank's remit.

He added: “We need to be decisive and do things differently. “The prime minister and I are committed to taking decisive action to help the British people now, while pursuing an unashamedly pro-growth agenda.” However, Kwarteng assured them that the government was committed to reducing debt – or at least keeping it on what the Treasury said was a “downward path”.

The Eton, Cambridge and Harvard alumnus, now 47 and the new Chancellor, first made his name with a column in The Telegraph.

It showed that Britain had forgotten its former global connections, resulting in a “parochialism coupled with an ignorance of British history” which would result, he warned, “in the eventual dissolution [of the UK]”. However, in his columns, he turned his fire on proponents of multiculturalism and political correctness. They offered value of a sort as “a place for reflective thought, like the monasteries of the Middle Ages,” but were only really popular as a way of proving one’s smarts. Nevertheless, Mr Kwarteng was not a defender of high culture himself. is the ideal training ground for military life”. And yet they were retained and seemed to think, like some children at school, that their crimes would never be discovered. Kwarteng’s scepticism of higher education is not the only position that Tory MPs might consider ahead of their time. In today’s climate, it’s no use telling an employer that one is eminently qualified for a job without some proof, some scrap of paper which conveys a magical authority.” “Men who were clearly an embarrassment to the party should have been sacked. On at least one issue, however, Mr Kwarteng has clearly come to accept the views of the experts. As [Mr Kwarteng](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/20/kwasi-kwarteng-rein-green-profits-energy-price-cap-set-soar/), universities were not just a waste of time for those hoping to make lots of money but “a trick of the mind”.

Mr Kwarteng will have to deal with 40-year-high inflation, falling living standards, a looming recession and an energy bill crisis.

He has also published a number of books, including co-authoring the infamous Britannia Unchained, alongside Ms Truss and fellow Tory MPs, Dominic Raab, Chis Skidmore and Priti Patel. But the then 20-year-old Mr Kwarteng found himself in The Sun newspaper under the headline "Rudiversity Challenge", after replying "Oh f***" as he stumbled over an answer after buzzing in. During his time as a student he was also part of the 1995 winning team on University Challenge, The 47-year-old has been a frequent fixture on the ministerial broadcast rounds. He was first elected among the 2010 class of Tory MPs, which included [Ms Truss](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/who-liz-truss-how-become-24937680), and has served the Spelthorne constituency in Surrey ever since. [Ms Truss](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/five-signs-liz-truss-could-24946315) pledged over £30 billion in tax cuts during the Tory leadership contest.

Promise of post-Brexit overhaul of regulation comes as some executives worry about reform of EU laws going too far.

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KWASI KWARTENG swore twice when being quizzed by Jeremy Paxman on University Challenge back in 1995, a moment that even made it into the newspapers.

He comes in as Chancellor at a time when the UK faces similar economic crises. Entering the world of work, Mr Kwarteng wrote columns for the Telegraph and worked as a financial analyst in the City of London. Not to be discouraged, Mr Kwarteng and his teammates from Trinity College Cambridge went on to be crowned champions of University Challenge in 1995. During his time at Cambridge, Mr Kwarteng had his first moment in the limelight when he appeared on University Challenge. Mr Kwarteng's panicked swearing even made headlines in the press, with The Sun publishing a report headlined "Rudiversity Challenge". Like most politicians, Mr Kwarteng went on to attend Eton College before studying classics and history at the University of Cambridge.

Liz Truss' new Harvard-educated right-hand man is her long-time ally and has a reputation for confidence (and swearing). Katie Strick charts the rise of the ...

Kwarteng has since been in a relationship with City lawyer Harriet Edwards, 36, and though friends describe him as “intensely private”, the facts paint a picture of a high-flying couple who are well matched. Kwarteng has got into his fair share of hot water in the past. He’s “essentially an academic; he is enthusiastic and bombastic, and barely draws breath,” says diarist Sasha Swire, wife of the former MP Hugo Swire. But it was his support of Boris Johnson for PM that really triggered his rise to the top. Like he did at Cambridge, Kwarteng made an impact from the start, making a “controversial” debut speech. “In Kwarteng’s world, if Kwarteng looks ridiculous, there must be something wrong with the world, not him.” Even by this point his intellect stood out: the teachers reported “[struggled] to keep up with him” when they introduced Italian to the curriculum, and at the age of 13 he won the Harrow History Prize, an award acclaimed writer George Orwell once missed out on. He went on to win medals in Latin and Greek poetry competitions and later won a Kennedy scholarship to study at Harvard. Ministers who’ve worked with him say the Harvard-educated Surrey MP “says it like he sees it” and is known for having the letters MSH scrawled on the whiteboard in his Whitehall Office. The pair entered parliament together in 2010, have been called “ideological soulmates” for their views on the free-market right (they were among co-authors of essay collection Britannia Unchained, advocating a small-state UK), and they’re not just new neighbours in Downing Street, but in Since accepting the job last night, Kwarteng has quickly been making headlines for becoming Britain’s first black Chancellor, but insiders are already warning commentators not to make a big deal of the colour of his skin. Many say Kwarteng’s personal mantra speaks to his confident, powerhouse approach to politics — and it’ll probably be needed in these first few weeks of the job.