UK Politics | As it happened: Liz Truss sacks FM Kwasi Kwarteng in a desperate bid to placate chaos

In what can be seen as a desperate attempt to stay in power, just 37 days after coming to power, United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss had to fire finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and scrap parts of her signature economic package.

Speaking to the press just weeks after taking over from Boris Johnson, Liz Truss in a dramatic U-turn, announced that she will in fact hike corporation tax.

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British Prime Minister Liz Truss insists that she would push ahead with her contentious programme to boost sluggish economic growth, despite market turbulence and sacking her finance minister.

Truss said she was "absolutely determined to see through what I have promised to deliver, a higher growth, more prosperous United Kingdom", even after being forced to climb down on key parts of the plan.

Embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Friday announced another drastic U-turn to her tax-slashing mini-budget last month which has prompted market turmoil, vowing to raise corporation tax after all.

Hours after sacking her finance minister, and stating the "need to act now to reassure the markets", Truss said: "I have therefore decided to keep the increase in corporation tax that was planned by the previous government".

WATCH LIVE: Prime Minister @TrussLiz hosts a press conference: 14 October 2022 https://t.co/iqppVBhORM

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) October 14, 2022

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has replaced Kwasi Kwarteng as finance minister with moderate Jeremy Hunt, a previous contender for the Conservative leadership.

As per AFP, shortly before Truss was scheduled to deliver a news conference where she was anticipated to make a significant U-turn on her right-wing economic programme in response to market upheaval, Downing Street announced Hunt's selection as chancellor of the exchequer.

Rishi Sunak's concerns have come true. Increasing borrowing to pay for tax cuts worked only to panic the markets and raise borrowing prices for millions of Britons. 

The centrepiece of Truss's persuasive argument to Tory party members that she, not her challenger Rishi Sunak, was the best choice to succeed Johnson was the promised tax savings.

With that programme now in ruins, Truss's judgement is under much greater scrutiny.

After only 37 days in office, Liz Truss is facing pressure, and senior Tories are reportedly scheming to replace her with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.

According to a recent YouGov poll conducted for The Times, 43 per cent of Conservative voters want a new prime minister in Downing Street.

Greg Hands, a junior minister, stated "I don't recognise" amid repeated claims that senior Tory MPs were attempting to depose Truss by appointing a new leadership team under the direction of Penny Mordaunt and Sunak, who also competed to succeed Johnson.

Other polls indicate that the opposition Labour party is gaining a sizable lead, endangering the Tories' chances of winning the election.

Reports claim that senior Tory ministers are preparing to call on Liz Truss to resign as prime minister within days, with many in the Conservative party saying she is as much to blame for the turmoil as Kwasi Kwarteng.

Taking to AFP, Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, said that Kwarteng had been made "the fall guy for the government's mistakes" adding that the sacking had not taken the pressure off Truss or calmed the Tories.

"It's very hard to see them coming back from this" by the next election, he added. 

Kwasi will now go down in history as the UK chancellor with the second-shortest tenure. 

Iain Macleod, who passed away from a heart attack 30 days after taking the position in 1970 is the chancellor with the shortest tenure.

As per a Times report, Jeremy Hunt is set to be appointed as the new chancellor. 

Taking to Twitter Steven Swinford, Political Editor at the Times has disclosed that "Multiple sources are now telling me that Jeremy Hunt will be the new chancellor, although I’ve not had official confirmation yet."

A formal announcement is yet to be made.

Investors jumped on news that Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng had been fired for his debt-fueled budget. The news has caused caused market upheaval, and the pound fell sharply against the dollar on Friday.

Following UK media reports that Prime Minister Liz Truss had fired the chancellor of the exchequer, the value of the pound fell 1.1 percent to $1.1199.

Kwasi Kwarteng is no longer the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Liz Truss, the prime minister struggles to preserve her beleaguered premiership, the minister has as per reports been sacked.

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