Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said he warned Liz Truss that her ill-fated economic plans were moving too quickly.
Mr Kwarteng told TalkTV in his first interview since being fired by the then-PM that he had warned her to “slow down” after the September mini-budget.
He claimed he told her she was “mad” to fire him and that if she did, she would only last “three or four weeks.”
“I had no idea it was only going to be six days,” he added.
Ms Truss abruptly fired Mr Kwarteng in October, just two weeks after their tax-cutting mini-budget shook financial markets.
After abandoning almost all of the plan in order to stay in power, she announced her resignation a few days later as Tory MPs’ support dwindled.
Mr Kwarteng told TalkTV that he had warned Ms Truss about going at breakneck speed with economic measures following the mini-budget.
“She said, ‘Well, I only have two years,’ and I said, ‘You will only have two months if you keep doing this.'” And, I’m afraid, that’s what happened.”
“I think the prime minister was very much of the opinion that we needed to move things quickly,” he added. But I think it was a little too quick.”
In the interview, he admitted that he had to “bear some responsibility” for the “too rapid” pace of the changes.
He also revealed that he found out he was going to be fired when he saw a journalist tweeting about it while driving to Downing Street after being summoned back from a trip to the United States.
Also read: Kwasi Kwarteng ousted as UK chancellor after budget backlash
“Prime ministers don’t get rid of chancellors,” he claimed he told her.
The former chancellor stated that he does not believe the prime minister could fire him “just for doing what she campaigned on.”
Source: BBC
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