Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng
(Picture: PA Wire)Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has admitted that he and Liz Truss got “carried away” with their economic reforms.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Kwarteng said that he had “blew it” while in Government after his “mini-Budget” prompted an economic crisis.
On September 23, Mr Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century.
Using more than £70 billion of increased borrowing, he set out a package which included abolishing the top rate of income tax for the highest earners and axing the cap on bankers’ bonuses, on top of a massively expensive energy support package.
However, his policies spooked the markets and sent the pound tumbling, forcing the Bank of England’s intervention and pushing up mortgage rates.
Mr Kwarteng said he had ignored advice that the plans would be perceived by the public as a “budget for the rich”.
“People got carried away, myself included. There was no tactical subtlety whatsoever,” he said.
“Where we fell woefully short was to have a tactical plan.”
He added: “My biggest regret is we weren't tactically astute and we were too impatient.
“There was a brief moment and the people in charge, myself included, blew it.”
He claimed that Ms Truss had insisted she did not want to see opinion polling on her policies as she felt politicians were too preoccupied with “optics”.
However, he said the period was “very exciting” and that he felt as if he was “part of a project”.
Mr Kwarteng was sacked by Ms Truss and replaced by Jeremy Hunt in a desperate bid to calm the markets. The pair were friends and had long been political allies.
He told the FT that he had warned Ms Truss that sacking him would “make her weaker, not stronger”.
Ms Truss ended up resigning after only 44 days in office, with her economic measures swiftly ripped up by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and her successor in No 10, Rishi Sunak.
