Surrey MP Kwasi Kwarteng To Quit

Published on: 6 Feb, 2024
Updated on: 8 Feb, 2024

Spelthorne MP Kwasi Kwarteng addresses residents at a public meeting for Save Staines Park. Photo: Save Staines Park Group

By Chris Caulfield

local democracy reporter

Spelthorne MP and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced his intention to stand down at the next election.

Mr Kwarteng informed his constituency association on Monday that he would not fight the election expected to occur later this year.

He said: “It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in Parliament.”

The historically safe Conservative seat has only ever returned one Labour MP in more than 100 years, and Mr Kwarteng secured an 18,393 majority at the last election.

More than 80 MPs have announced they will leave Parliament at the next election, including high profile Surrey MPs such as Dominic Raab, Crispin Blunt, Chris Grayling, and Paul Beresford, more than the 74 who retired in 2019.

Kwasi Kwarteng presenting his calamitous Mini Budget to the House of Commons on September 23, 2022.

Coming from the right of the Conservative Party, Mr Kwarteng was a key ally of Liz Truss and served as her chancellor for 38 days before he was sacked amid the chaos caused by his tax-cutting mini-budget.

His brief tenure made him the second shortest-serving chancellor behind Iain Macleod, who died a month after taking office in 1970.

Prior to his time at the Treasury, Mr Kwarteng served in a number of junior ministerial roles before becoming business secretary under Boris Johnson in 2021.

In the same year, he was criticised for saying parliamentary standards commissioner Kathryn Stone should “consider her position” during the row over Owen Paterson, who had been found to have breached Commons rules by engaging in paid lobbying. Mr Kwarteng later apologised for his comments.

He also co-authored a paper Policy Bites: Seven Shots in the Arm of Britain, as a member of The Free Enterprise Group.

The report advocated the construction of a new runway north of the main Heathrow site at Sipson, and a southern runway that would require swathes of his own constituency to be demolished – something he said was “intended to provoke debate”.

Since leaving office, he has been offered a part-time role as an adviser to Australian mining company Fortescue Future industries, involving two days per week working in the company’s green energy business.

He has also been a regular guest on GB News, receiving £1,000 per appearance on the channel.

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