'I've got cheese that's lasted longer': Ridicule as Kwarteng sacked as chancellor

Kwasi Kwarteng's time as chancellor was the second shortest in postwar history - a fact mercilessly mocked on the internet on Friday.

Kwarteng has been sacked by Liz Truss, the scapegoat for the pair’s disastrous “growth plan” announced in the mini-budget three weeks ago. It caused major economic turmoil amid market concerns about the impact of the £43bn tax giveaway on public finances.

Kwarteng, a long-term political ally and friend of the prime minister, lasted just 38 days in the job.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, only Iain Macleod had a shorter chancellorship, at 30 days. This was because he died suddenly of a heart attack in July 1970.

News of Kwarteng's sacking prompted much ridicule on the internet...

Even Kwarteng’s predecessor Nadhim Zahawi, widely seen as a stop-gap appointment as Boris Johnson’s administration fell apart in the summer, lasted longer at 63 days.

Jeremy Hunt was later appointed as Kwarteng’s successor.

That in itself makes for another striking statistic: there have now been four chancellors in four months after Rishi Sunak resigned in July to be followed by Zahawi, Kwarteng and now Hunt.

To add to the sense of disfunction at the heart of Downing Street, Kwarteng was sacked just hours after trade minister Greg Hands insisted his position is “totally safe”.

“I know the prime minister has got total confidence in Kwasi Kwarteng,” he had told Sky News.

Kwarteng, meanwhile, was standing by his economic policy on Friday.

In his resignation statement to Truss, who he lived on the same street as in Greenwich, south-east London, Kwarteng said: "As I have said many times in the past weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation - that must still change if this country is to succeed."

He signed off the letter by saying "it has been an honour to serve as your first chancellor".

Truss told Kwarteng in a response that she is “sorry” to lose him as chancellor, adding: “You have put the national interest first.”

Read more: Pound slides after Kwasi Kwarteng confirms he was sacked as chancellor

Reacting to the instability on Friday, Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I’ve never known a more incompetent government and I’ve known a few… [or] one with such a bad start.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for a general election, saying: “This mustn’t just be the end of Kwarteng’s disastrous chancellorship, it should be the death knell of the Conservatives’ reckless mismanagement of our economy."