Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor, has announced that he will leave parliament at the next general election.
Kwarteng, who represents the Spelthorne seat in Surrey, said he had told his constituency association yesterday that he would not stand at the next contest.
In a post to X (formerly Twitter) today, he said: “Yesterday I informed my Association Chair of my decision not to stand at the next General Election. 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”.
Kwarteng was elected MP for Spelthorne in Surrey in 2010. At the last election he had a majority of 18,393.
Kwarteng served for 38 days as chancellor of the Exchequer between September and October 2022.
Yesterday I informed my Association Chair of my decision not to stand at the next General Election. 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.
— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) February 6, 2024
Following turmoil on the financial markets in the light of his mini-budget, Kwarteng was sacked by Liz Truss. He thus became the second shortest ever serving UK Chancellor.
Kwarteng was previously regarded as a long standing ally of Liz Truss. Prior to the pair moving to their respective houses in Downing Street, Truss and Kwarteng also lived on the same street in south London.
Kwarteng previously sat in the cabinet as the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy between 2021 and 2022. In this role, he became the UK’s first black Conservative cabinet minister.
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He was previously minister of state for business, energy and clean growth between 2019 and 2021, and under secretary of state for Exiting the European Union between 2018 and 2019.
In 2012, Kwarteng co-authored the book Britannia Unchained with others in the Conservative Party including Liz Truss, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab.
He supported Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, and backed Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
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