LONDON, Oct 15 (NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES) — Jeremy Hunt, former foreign secretary of the United Kingdom (UK), has been appointed as chancellor of the exchequer, Downing Street said in a statement on Friday.
Hunt, 55, replaces Kwasi Kwarteng, who resigned earlier in the day after his mini-budget was blamed for causing economic turmoil.
“You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted,” Kwarteng said in his resignation to Prime Minister Liz Truss posted on Twitter.
Kwarteng’s time in office — 38 days — made him one of the shortest-serving UK chancellors in history.
The mini-budget he presented last month, which contained controversial debt-funded tax cuts, has been blamed for the economic turmoil which saw the British pound plunge to a 37-year low against the U.S. dollar while the cost of government borrowing and mortgage rates surge.
Amid tremendous pressure, Kwarteng made a U-turn earlier this month on plans to scrap the 45 percent income tax rate for the highest earners.
“As I have said many times in the past weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation — that must still change if this country is to succeed,” he said in his resignation.
Views are mixed on whether the new Chancellor will be a stabilizing influence on either the party or Prime Minister Liz Truss. Some Conservative MPs think that Hunt, who served as health secretary, foreign secretary and culture, media and sport secretary under previous governments, will bring unity to a party that is still recovering from the summer’s bruising leadership contest.
He is respected by both the left and right of the party and has a calm, reassuring and familiar nature that appeals to a certain type of Conservative.
However, he is also easy for the opposition Labour Party to attack. Hunt-skeptics point out that his record in government is patchy. Whether the accusations are true or not, it would be possible for opposition leaders to say that as health secretary, he failed to adequately prepare Britain’s health service for the coronavirus pandemic.
Hunt will now address the nation on Oct 31, to deliver a fiscal policy to the country that will explain how the government plans to balance the books as it borrows money to help people pay energy bills over the next two years. — NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES
