Published: February 6, 2024 at 6:25am ET
Kwasi Kwarteng, who served as Britain's finance minister during the mini-budget crisis that saw the pound sterling fall to record lows against the US dollar, has announced that he will not stand for re-election as an MP.
The British politician, who worked for the London hedge fund O'Day Asset Management before being elected as Skelthorpe MP in 2010, is a candidate for the UK general election, which must be held by January 28, 2025 at the latest. said he would not run. .
Kwarten…
Kwasi Kwarteng, who served as Britain's finance minister during the mini-budget crisis that saw the pound sterling fall to record lows against the US dollar, has announced that he will not stand for re-election as an MP.
The British politician, who worked for the London hedge fund O'Day Asset Management before being elected as Skelthorpe MP in 2010, is a candidate for the UK general election, which must be held by January 28, 2025 at the latest. said he would not run. .
Kwarteng, who also worked as a financial analyst at JP Morgan before entering politics, was appointed as finance minister by Britain's shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss, following his victory in a Conservative Party referendum in September 2022. I was given a job.
Mr Truss will replace his predecessor Boris Johnson after announcing his resignation in July 2022 amid a revolt among MPs over his handling of sexual misconduct allegations against Conservative MP Chris Pincher. As a result of this vote, Mr. Truss was appointed.
As chancellor, Kwarteng then announced plans to implement a controversial “mini-budget”, which received an overwhelmingly negative response and sent the British pound to an all-time low.
The mini-budget proposed a series of tax cuts, raising concerns among economists that Britain would be forced to borrow more. The International Monetary Fund later warned that mini-budgets “could increase inequality” and called on the UK to “reassess” the plan.
The Prime Minister then replaced Mr Kwarteng with the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, to reassure financial markets, and asked Mr Kwarteng to resign after just 38 days in office in order to cancel parts of the mini-budget.
Mr Truss himself resigned after just 45 days in office, making him the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. Mr Kwarteng is Britain's second-shortest serving Prime Minister, after former Conservative Party minister Ian MacLeod, who died in July 1970 after 13 days in office.
Born in London in 1975 to Ghanaian parents, Kwarteng attended Britain's prestigious Eton College and then studied classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then studied at Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar, then returned to Cambridge University to complete his PhD in the economic history of the Great Monetary Crisis of 1696.
Separately, Mr Kwarteng revealed that a hedge fund owned by his former boss, Crispin O'Day, had made huge profits by shorting the pound, after Mr O'Day had a lunch with the former finance minister. Just a few weeks later, he faced intense scrutiny.
O'Day later closed O'Day Asset Management in October 2023 after a Financial Times investigation revealed allegations that the hedge fund manager had sexually harassed and assaulted 13 women.
Mr Kwarteng said he would continue to serve as Councilor Skelthorpe until the end of his term. MarketWatch has reached out to Kwarteng's parliamentary office for comment.
