Liz Truss is to hold a press conference today after she sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor over the mini-budget disaster that tanked the pound.
Kwarteng went straight to Downing Street to learn his fate today after flying back to London from a trip to Washington DC.
It follows days of turmoil in the markets amid concerns about the impact of his £43 billion tax giveaway on the public finances.
Before he left the US, Kwarteng answered “absolutely 100%” when asked if he will be in office in a month, adding: “I’m not going anywhere.”
But the Tory MP was promptly sacked after arriving at Downing Street at lunchtime.
It means Kwarteng is the second shortest-serving UK chancellor on record.
The shortest serving chancellor, Iain Macleod, died of a heart attack 30 days after taking the job in 1970.
Truss will stage a press conference in Downing Street later on Friday in which she is expected to announce major changes to Kwarteng’s £43 billion tax giveaway.
His departure may give Ms Truss some brief breathing space as she seeks to shore up her battered authority after weeks of turmoil following his “fiscal event” last month.
But it will also raise fresh questions about her chances of survival – because she was closely linked to the policies that caused the problems.
The commitments to reverse a hike in national insurance rates and ditch a planned rise in corporation tax, without explaining how they would be paid for, were the key planks of her leadership election campaign.
But after the financial markets took fright – with the pound plummeting against the dollar and the cost of government borrowing soaring – the Conservatives have seen their opinion poll ratings tank.
Kirsten Oswald, SNP depute leader at Westminster, said: "No attempt to pass the buck can disguise the fact that Liz Truss is up to her neck in this.
"The disastrous policies in the UK budget were the central plank of her Tory leadership campaign. It was her reckless incompetence that trashed the UK economy - and she is to blame for the damage to people's mortgage rates, pensions and household budgets.
"With her Chancellor gone, it's unclear what justification there is for Liz Truss remaining in post."
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