Kwasi Kwarteng on Liz Truss: 'She's an unusual person'
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Kwasi Kwarteng looks back on his time working with Liz Truss, and explains why he would vote for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris
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In brief...
- Kwasi Kwarteng says he was "dry eyed" when Liz Truss asked for his resignation, but recalls the former PM having tears.
- He describes her as an "unusual person" but says losing her seat in the July election would have been hard for her.
- He also believes she has been influenced greatly by Donald Trump and his approach to bad press and professional failures.
Kwasi Kwarteng has described Liz Truss as "an unusual person", as he spoke to The News Agents about his brief time as Chancellor of the Exchequer during her time a Prime Minister.
Kwarteng and Truss worked together on the now-infamous mini-budget, which brought both their front-bench roles to an abrupt end, and crashed the UK economy.
The mini-budget resulted in the value of the pound plummeting, due to the huge amount of borrowing required to fund tax cuts promised, in the midst of the cost of living crisis.
The mini-budget was presented on 23 September 2022, and Kwarteng was recalled from a meeting in the US on 14 October, and was asked for his resignation.
The former Chancellor tells Jon Sopel he was "pretty dry eyed" as the news was delivered – unlike the Prime Minister.
"I thought in a kind of rational way, which was proved to be wrong, that if she sacked me, that would end her premiership, and so she wouldn't do that. So I kind of took that off the table mentally," Kwarteng says.
"I think she was very emotional, there were tears, I think.
"She said, 'I've got to do this, and this is necessary', and I remember thinking, this is insane, because I know we're in a difficult position, but you doing this will accelerate the end of your premiership, not delay it."
He was right. And Truss resigned just six days later, on 20 October.
"The whole thing was concertinaed into a very short time," he adds.
"If you're going to throw someone under the bus, it doesn't make sense if you're going to be run over by the next bus."
Kwasi Kwarteng says Liz Truss is "unusual"
What does he think about Liz Truss now?
He describes Truss as "an unusual person", but insists it takes a "great strength of character to get where she did."
"I think she's unusual. I think she's someone who has got tremendous determination, tremendous drive, and tremendous sense of urgency.
"She doesn't read the room as well as others. She's not a great presenter, and like all of us, she's got strengths and weaknesses, but I think she's got great insight and great determination."
He also believes she took her constituency duties "very seriously" and while he says it was a "great shame" for Truss to lose her seat in the July election, the Conservative Party needs new people to "take it forward".
"She was very much committed to staying in the Parliament, and so losing the seat the way she did must have been quite painful," he adds.
What's happened to Truss since her time in Downing Street ended?
In the years since standing down as PM, Liz Truss has moved further towards the right-wing, appearing at far-right conventions and Trump rallies in the US.
She recently stormed off a stage when an image of a lettuce and the slogan "I crashed the economy" was lowered onto a stage by left-wing activist group Led By Donkeys at a public speaking event. Her only comment on seeing the banner was "that's not funny".
Kwarteng says some people will struggle to be objective when coming to terms with mistakes and upsets that have occurred in their professional career.
"There are people who react to things – big setbacks, big crises – and it's very difficult for them to try and be objective," he says.
"Other people will respond and say, ‘No, I was right. I was always right’. You double down effectively. That's the Trump method. He's never wrong.
Trump, he believes, has been a big influence on Truss's approach to her work and career since leaving office.
"I think a lot of this is driven by the kind of Trumpian right in the US, where, essentially, what he's done is doubled down, always doubled down, and consolidated his base," he tells Jon.
"The way you do that is by saying I was right. These people are fake news. These people are out to get me. These people are getting me because they want to get you."
Why Kwasi Kwarteng would vote for Donald Trump
But saying that, Kwarteng admits that if he had to vote in the upcoming US election, it would be for Donald Trump.
"I think Trump has got all sorts of problems with him, and he's got psychological issues, clearly, but Harris is a very far left candidate on culture war issues, and on the taxation issues," he says.
He insists you have to "look at his record", saying he liked what Trump did on corporation tax while in power, and praised him for being tough on China and Iran while he was president.
"If you ignore all the noise and the extreme elements of his personality, the record was a credible one, and I probably would, on balance, vote for that," he says.
Listen in full on The News Agents.
