The British Prime Minister, who renounces part of his tax cuts, appointed the fourth chancellor of the chessboard of the year.
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In a white voice, Liz Truss tried, Friday, October 14, to draw a line on her catastrophic beginnings at the head of the British government. Less than six weeks after having become Prime Minister, and three weeks after the presentation of a budget that caused financial panic, she urgently summoned a press conference. She announced that she had Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Echiquier (Minister of Finance) of which she was very close to it, and to have given up a flagship measure of her budget, ultimately increasing the corporate tax. “Priority is to ensure economic stability. (…) It’s difficult, but we will cross the storm.”
M me truss, who only answered four questions and concluded the press conference after nine minutes, appointed Jeremy Hunt, a cacique of the Conservative Party who had was dismissed from the government three years ago. Symbol of the current instability of British policy, it is the fourth holder of the position since the beginning of the year. You have to go back to 1834 to find a series of such fast successions.
The mandate of Liz Truss at the head of the British government, which started until September 6, began to derail on September 23 when his chancellor presented the budget. In addition to a freezing of gas and electricity bills (double the level of last year, despite everything), it has announced the most important tax cuts since 1972, without explaining its funding. Worried, the financial markets immediately sanctioned the measure: the pound sterling fell at the lowest level of its history against the dollar, and the interest rates of British loans have soared. It took the intervention of the Bank of England to bring calm back. Surveys followed the trend: the Conservatives are now twenty-six points behind on average on Labor, 26 % against 50 %.
Broken authority
m. Kwarteng and M Me truss, close friends who had prepared the budget together all summer, tried to get out of this very bad pass. They first announced the cancellation of the wealthy income tax drop (which was to go from 45 % to 40 % above 172,000 euros per year). Then, faced with the internal sling in the Conservative Party, and the persistent tremors of the markets, the Prime Minister decided on Thursday evening to get rid of Mr. Kwarteng. The latter came back urgently from Washington, where the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund was held, to present his resignation. He held thirty-eight days at his post.
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