Liz Truss to sack Kwasi Kwarteng ahead of corporation tax U-turn
Kwasi Kwarteng will be sacked as chancellor as Liz Truss tries to restore her political authority ahead of a U-turn on parts of her disastrous mini-budget later on Friday, according to sources.
A Downing Street source confirmed to the Guardian the prime minister intended to get Kwarteng to “carry the can” over her climbdown as she sought to calm the markets and the nerves of jittery Tory MPs.
Truss is meeting Kwarteng, previously her closest political ally and co-architect of her plan for growth, for crisis talks in Downing Street after he dashed back overnight from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington.
Whitehall insiders told the Guardian the pair held different views on how far the government should go in reversing key elements of its plan to steady the markets and placate anxious Conservative MPs.
They said that Kwarteng was pushing for a full retreat on the corporation tax policy, raising it from the current 19% rate to the planned 25%, while the prime minister had wanted to go for just a fraction of the rise.
“The markets are pricing in a full reversal of the freeze and that will be Kwasi’s biggest concern,” said one.
One Treasury insider said Kwarteng had all along been “more prepared to U-turn” than Truss on corporation tax and previously the 45p rate, despite him largely getting the blame for the policies.
However, Downing Street insiders said that Truss, who is to hold a press conference on Friday afternoon as she prepares a humiliating climbdown, was expected to fully retreat on the plan.
The prime minister’s own position is in such peril, with Tory MPs actively plotting her downfall amid chaos, that she appears to have concluded that sacking the chancellor is essential for her political survival.
Read more on theguardian.com
