Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975)[3][4] is a British politician who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from September to October 2022 under Liz Truss and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2021 to 2022 under Boris Johnson.

In January 2021, Kwarteng was promoted to the office of secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, a role he retained throughout the remainder of Johnson's premiership.

[5] On 23 September, Kwarteng announced various tax cuts in a mini-budget that was widely criticised and which caused the pound sterling to fall to its lowest-ever level against the United States dollar.

[20] Before becoming an MP, Kwarteng worked as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and as a financial analyst at JPMorgan Chase as well as at WestLB and the hedge fund Odey Asset Management.

[23] Considered "a rising star on the right of the party" by 2015,[24] Kwarteng initially became a Conservative candidate in the constituency of Brent East at the 2005 general election.

[43] In September 2019, Kwarteng stated on The Andrew Neil Show: "I'm not saying this, but, many people are saying that the judges are biased",[44] after the Court of Session ruled that Johnson's prorogation of parliament was illegal.

[46][47] On 8 January 2021, as part of a mini-reshuffle, he replaced Alok Sharma as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

[49] In March 2021, he was criticised for dissolving the Industrial Strategy Council, the advisory body seeking to regenerate Britain's regions.

[50] In the days after the COP26 climate summit, Kwarteng met oil industry bosses to encourage them to continue drilling in the North Sea.

The BEIS department transparency data revealed that Kwarteng travelled to Saudi Arabia on a commercial flight costing the taxpayer £4,430.

Opposition politicians criticised Kwarteng for accepting the Saudi state's hospitality, particularly in light of their human rights record, and raised concerns over whether he broke the ministerial code.

[52] From August 2021, high European wholesale natural gas prices caused some smaller domestic suppliers in the United Kingdom to go out of business.

[56] Kwarteng was an outspoken supporter of Owen Paterson, who had been found by the Commons Select Committee on Standards to have committed "an egregious case of paid advocacy".

[57][58] In reaction to this ruling, Kwarteng called for the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, to "consider her position".

[59] On 15 November 2021, Kwarteng published a letter of apology to Stone, in which he said he "did not mean to express doubt about your ability to discharge your role" and apologised for "any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused".

[5] On 23 September 2022, he announced a set of economic policies named "The Growth Plan 2022" in what the Treasury described as a "fiscal event"; this was dubbed a "mini-budget" by the media.

[61][62] Among the policies announced by Kwarteng was a cut in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19% to start in April 2023, the abolition of the 45% higher rate of income tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the lifting of the stamp duty threshold, the freezing of energy bills, the reversal of the increase in National Insurance from April 2022, the abolition of the proposed Health and Social Care Levy, and the scrapping of the limit on bankers' bonuses.

[63][64][65] The Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson called the plan "the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years" and said that it "seems to be to borrow large sums at increasingly expensive rates, put government debt on an unsustainable rising path, and hope that we get better growth".

[71] Following criticism from several Conservative MPs, including Michael Gove and Grant Shapps, Kwarteng said on 3 October 2022 that the government would not pursue the plan to abolish the 45% higher rate of income tax paid by people earning over £150,000 a year.

[73] He acknowledged in an interview that there was "some turbulence" after his mini-budget but said it was a "very dicey situation globally", and when questioned on 13 October whether he would remain as chancellor, Kwarteng said he was "not going anywhere".

"[84] When asked about his thoughts on removal of British Empire-era statues and monuments, including that of slave trader Edward Colston, Kwarteng called these "acts of vandalism".

On 26 September 2022, Labour Party MP Rupa Huq was suspended after calling Kwarteng "superficially black" in response to his comments.

[86] In August 2012, Kwarteng co-authored a book with four fellow Conservative MPs including Liz Truss, titled Britannia Unchained.