Kwasi Kwarteng, who was given the hardest assignment in the government only weeks into his term as Chancellor, today slashed taxes for millions of Britons.
Before the ink on his new business cards has even dry, he is faced with a financial catastrophe of seismic proportions, much like his predecessor Rishi Sunak.
The Covid pandemic in 2020 was the issue in Mr. Sunak’s lawsuit. For Mr. Kwarteng, the issue is how to rescue UK PLC from the inflationary and energy price quagmire that Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine have created.
To do this, even if the Treasury was careful to avoid labelling it an emergency Budget, Mr. Kwarteng today revealed the largest package of tax cuts in 50 years.
If Mr. Kwarteng, 47, wants to assist the UK in growing its way to recovery, he must adhere to his motto of MSH—Make Sh*t Happen.
The avowed proponent of free markets today unveiled a slew of tax cuts and other economic tools in the hopes that they, together with Prime Minister Liz Truss, can counter the pessimistic forecasts for the near future of Britain.
Despite having a PhD in economic history from Cambridge University, the incoming chancellor is not always an expert. He buzzed in answer to a donkey-related question on University Challenge in 1995, only to tell the game show host, Jeremy Paxman, “Oh f***, I’ve forgotten.”
As if that wasn’t horrible enough the first time, he added, “Oh f***,” again, after searching his brain.
Bungling The 19-year-old classics student murmured several expletives, but the BBC producers missed them and they were aired to the country.
In fact, Mr. Kwarteng initially gained widespread recognition in a page three The Sun piece titled “Rudiversity Challenge.”
However, Mr. Kwarteng, a student, got the last laugh when his Trinity College Cambridge squad won each stage and went on to win the 1995 University Challenge championship.
After Liz Truss nominated him to the Treasury during some of the worst economic circumstances in recent memory, he will be hoping his winning run continues.
The former business secretary and his solicitor wife Harriet, together with their small daughter, have moved into No. 11, which is located on the same Greenwich street as Ms. Truss.
The former Home Secretary Amber Rudd and he formerly had a relationship.
Ghanaian parents who had immigrated to England as students in the 1960s gave birth to Mr. Kwarteng in east London.
Charlotte Boaitey-Kwarteng, 78, is the managing partner of 12 Square Chambers, a human rights, immigration, and public law firm with offices in Holborn, north London.
According to a description posted online, her “road to the Bar as a Black woman in the 1980s required battling discrimination” from other attorneys.
Alfred, his father, worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat as an economist.
Before sending him to the exclusive prep school Colet Court in Richmond, west London, they originally sent him to a public elementary school in Waltham Forest.
Mr. Kwarteng later received a scholarship to Eton, where he was recognised as one of the school’s brightest students and served as a prefect, or praeposter as it is known there.
He continued his education by reading history and the classics at Cambridge University. In 2000, he received a PhD in economic history from the same institution. He wrote his doctoral dissertation about the “recoinage crisis of 1695-7.”
After unsuccessful attempts to win the safe Surrey seat of Spelthorne in the London Assembly and Parliament, he did so in 2010 and has held it ever since.
Harriet studied at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, which boasts illustrious alumni like Ms. Rudd, Amanda Wakeley, and the fragrant Mary Archer.
Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked for Christie’s in Geneva and the UBS investment bank in New York after earning a degree in history and modern languages from Trinity College, Dublin.
She was a senior associate at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an accounting company, where she specialised in providing “individuals and families” with asset protection and succession planning advice, especially for “family held enterprises.”
He has faced controversy at some point in his political career. He and four other 2010 parliamentary newcomers from the Tory party wrote a book in 2012 that called British workers “among the worst idlers in the world” and demanded the coalition government do more to encourage “hard graft.”
If Britain’s political system “had the will to really confront our debt,” the subject was raised in the book Britannia Unchained – Global Growth and Prosperity.
In it, Mr. Kwarteng and four other future ministers criticised the welfare dependence culture and young Britons who “prefer a lie-in” and leave difficult work to foreign labourers. The other four future ministers were Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore, and the incoming Prime Minister, Ms. Truss.
It issues a dire warning that the nation is being held back by an overburdened public sector, low productivity, years of excessive expenditure, insufficient growth, and growing public sector pension obligations.
The most contentious section claims that an overburdened government, high taxes, and a robust welfare system have encouraged idleness.
According to the book, “Once they join the office, the British are among the worst idlers in the world.” We have some of the shortest workweeks, early retirement, and low output.
“British children are more interested in sports and pop music, while Indian youngsters want to be physicians or businesses.
We claim that too many Brits choose a lie-in over hard labour.
The MPs asked the coalition to imitate the South Korean, Singaporean, and Hong Kongan work ethic cultures.
Despite the fact that Britain would never be as large as China or Brazil, the MPs stated, “we may look forward to a new generation, eager to go to work.”
“We must adopt the side of the responsible, diligent, and courageous if we are to seize these chances. We must cease protecting the careless, minimising every danger, and encouraging sloth.