UK PM Truss fires Treasury Secretary Kwarteng after a month on the job

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has fired Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwazi Kwarteng, the BBC reported without specifying the source of the information. Downing Street declined to comment. Kwarteng later confirmed that Truss had asked him to leave, Reuters reports.

Downing Street reported that Truss would hold a press conference on October 14, after Kwarteng rushed back to London from International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Washington.

Kwarteng wished the Prime Minister success in implementing her economic plans and assured her that he would continue to support her.

“We have been colleagues and friends for many years,” he stressed.

"The economic environment has changed rapidly" since he presented his plan to support the UK economy in Parliament, he said, and there is now market turbulence. Kwarteng emphasized that he undertook the job "fully aware that the situation the British were facing was incredibly difficult."

He set an anti-record for tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 1970. Kvarteng was appointed in September this year. Truss herself, who previously served as British Foreign Secretary, took office as Prime Minister on 6 September.