UK Chancellor Kwarteng sacked, replaced with Jeremy Hunt

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has fired her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, the BBC reported on Friday, shortly before she is expected to scrap parts of his economic package in a bid to survive the market and political turmoil gripping the country and former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt appointed as new finance minister.

Downing Street confirmed that Truss, in power for only 37 days, would hold a press conference later on Friday after Kwarteng was forced to rush back to London from IMF meetings in Washington to address the chaos.

The BBC said Kwarteng had been sacked.

Kwarteng became Britain’s shortest serving Chancellor since 1970, and his successor, Jeremy Hunt is the country’s fourth finance minister in as many months.

British government bonds rallied further on Friday, adding to their partial recovery since Truss’s government started looking for ways to balance the books after her unfunded tax cuts crushed UK asset values and drew international censure.

Kwarteng had announced a new fiscal policy on Sept. 23, delivering Truss’s vision for vast tax cuts and deregulation to try to shock the economy out of years of stagnant growth.

But the response from markets was so ferocious that the Bank of England had to intervene to prevent pension funds from being caught up in the chaos, as borrowing and mortgage costs surged.

The duo have since been under mounting pressure to reverse course, as polls showed support for their Conservative Party had collapsed, prompting colleagues to openly discuss whether they should be replaced.

Hunt has twice been unsuccessful in running for the governing Conservative Party’s leadership, once losing to Boris Johnson and then being knocked out in the first round of voting in a contest which saw Truss take the prize.

Seen as on the centre-right of the party, Hunt endorsed Truss’s leadership rival, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak to become prime minister, and is seen by many in the party as a safe pair of hands.

Hunt, who has also previously served as health minister and culture minister, becomes Britain’s fourth finance minister in as many months.

Truss’s office also said Edward Argar had replaced Chris Philp as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the second most important job in the department.