Ex-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to leave Parliament at next election

Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced that he will stand down as an MP at the next election.

Mr Kwarteng, who represents Spelthorne, in Surrey, said on Tuesday that he had informed his constituency association the previous day 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.”

His seat has been a generally safe Conservative one, returning a Labour MP only once in more than 100 years, and Mr Kwarteng secured a majority of 18,393 at the last election.

More than 80 MPs have announced they will leave Parliament at the next election, more than the 74 who retired in 2019, including more than 50 Conservatives or former Conservatives.

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.

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.