The former Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, Kwasi Kwarteng, has admitted that during his time at the job, he “got carried away.”
Opening up about this to the Financial Times, and reported by the BBC, the former Minister of Finance said when he and his boss, the former Prime Minister Liz Truss, announced the huge package of ill-fated cuts, he was “too impatient” with the mini-budget.
“There was a brief moment, and the people in charge, myself included, blew it… People got carried away, myself included,” he said.
It would be recalled the British-Ghanaian politician’s plan sparked turmoil in the markets, a situation that eventually led to his resignation, same as Truss’.
As Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng set out a package to abolish the top rate of income tax for the highest earners, axe the cap on bankers’ bonuses, and provide an expensive and long-running energy support package.
The plans would have required more than £70bn of increased borrowing, but most of the measures were torn up by his successor, Jeremy Hunt, the BBC reported.
In the end, the politician became the first finance minister of the UK to stay the shortest in office, having only served 38 days.
