Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s brief stint has been criticized by critics and members of the public, and Liz Truss is apparently getting ready to fire him.
As soon as the news broke, Twitter users responded with a barrage of memes ridiculing Mr. Kwarteng’s unexpected departure from No. 11.
As the rumors spread, media emphasized headlines and official remarks that had “aged horribly.”
Many people were quick to point out the irony of the title on the front page of today’s Telegraph newspaper: “Kwarteng insists: I’m not going away.”
Its ironic caption read: “Souvenir edition,” added Harry Lambert.
Before rumors that he would be fired surfaced, Mr. Kwarteng traveled early from meetings in the US today to conduct “urgent discussions” with the Prime Minister.
Kwasi Kwarteng rushes back from the US to be fired by Liz Truss?, said one Twitter user in response, mocking the chancellor and Liz Truss as Cher and Dionne in the 1990s chick film Clueless.
Others couldn’t help but draw parallels between it and Nadhim Zahawi’s brief tenure as Chancellor during the last weeks of Boris Johnson’s administration.
Who was the shortest-serving post-war chancellor who did not die in office? is the caption on a photo of Kwarteng participating in University Challenge. “Kwarteng, Cambridge,” “Correct,” BZZZZTTT.
Following the mini-budget, several people on Twitter branded him and Prime Minister Liz Truss “toast” and questioned his mathematical prowess.
At her news conference at 2 o’clock, the Prime Minister is expected to give in to political and financial pressure to raise company tax, discarding a key plank of the Chancellor’s economic strategy.