By Tony O’Reilly-
Jeremy Hunt has been appointed chancellor after the prime minister sacked Kwasi Kwarteng.
Mr Kwarteng’s dismissal follows weeks of economic turmoil and business pessimism, after his £43 billion package of unfunded tax cuts spooked the financial markets.
Mr Hunt returns to the frontbenches after a few years off, following his stint as foreign secretary under Theresa May and health secretary and culture secretary under David Cameron.
The son of a senior officer in the Royal Navy, Hunt studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Magdalen College Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. The clever man also graduated with a first class hounours Bachelor of Arts(BA) honours.
His father worked in NHS management after he retired from the navy and his mother was a nurse in the 1950s and 60s.
Mr Hunt was one of Rishi Sunak’s most loyal supporters during the Tory leadership campaign in the summer after he was knocked out of the running himself. His appointment in that respect is somewhat surprising, but also a sign of political tactic by the prime minister to get some of her political rivals on her side.
Mr Hunt has been a backbencher since Boris Johnson took over from Mrs May in 2019 and would not have seen this political opportunity coming having not been an initial supporter of Ms Truss.
Kwarteng first U-turned on getting rid of the 45p rate of income tax for higher earners and the government is set to U-turn on freezing corporation tax at 19% so it will rise to 25%’
Mr Kwarteng was then summoned back early from the annual gathering of the International Monetary Fund in Washington where he was delivered with the bombshell news, which would no doubt have come as an embarrassment to him.