Former foreign secretary and Conservative leadership contender Jeremy Hunt has been named Chancellor, Downing Street said. It comes after Kwasi Kwarteng was removed from the post after just 38 days earlier today.
Mr Hunt has also served as health secretary from 2012 to 2018 before taking up the Foreign Office from 2018 to 2019. The choice of Mr Hunt, a prominent backer of her rival Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest, will be seen as an attempt to restore stability after weeks of turmoil in the wake of Mr Kwarteng's mini-budget. Chris Philp has been appointed Paymaster General, swapping jobs with Edward Argar, who becomes Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Downing Street said.
Earlier, Mr Kwarteng was summoned back early from the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington to be told of his fate in a brief meeting with the Prime Minister in No 10. He narrowly avoided being the shortest serving Chancellor of the Exchequer in modern history. Mr Kwarteng clocked up 38 full days in the role before being sacked by Liz Truss - eight more than Conservative Iain Macleod, who died in office after just 30 days in 1970.
