As the clock reached closer to midnight, Kwasi Kwarteng finished deliberating about heading home from Washington DC to attempt to save his political career.
He eventually boarded the final flight back to London, but when he reached Downing Street 12 hours later, he was sacked as chancellor on the spot. The “knives of the long night” episode, as it is now called, took place with brutal swiftness.
It was the culmination of a chaotic week in Westminster, which saw furious calls for an overhaul of Truss and Kwarteng’s mini-budget while her premiership teetered on the brink.
The mood of Tory MPs was already toxic, given their party conference in Birmingham had been plagued by a series of U-turns and blue-on-blue attacks. But to test the feeling of the public, Kwarteng did a walkabout through his leafy constituency of Spelthorne, in Surrey, last Friday.
While passing an estate agent, he waved through the window and stopped when a woman inside got up, seemingly to greet him. Instead, she is said to have come to the window, made an obscene gesture and told the chancellor he was a disgrace. » | Aubrey Allegretti, Jessica Elgot and Pippa Crerar | Friday, October 14, 2022
