Kwasi Kwarteng’s rise and fall, from Eton scholar to chancellor
Kwasi Kwarteng’s stint as chancellor was perhaps as short as his rise to the top of politics was swift.
Mr Kwarteng was promoted to chancellor by Liz Truss on 6 September from his previous post as business secretary under Boris Johnson.
Within 38 days he had been sacked, his downfall set in motion by the economic turmoil unleashed by his mini-budget.
Kwarteng returns to backbenches – politics updates
He insisted his tax-cutting mini-budget was the best way to encourage growth, saying the turmoil in the UK economy was part of global pressures caused by the Ukraine war and the pandemic recovery.
But after open revolt among Tory MPs and a surge in the polls for Labour forced U-turns on two of his major policies, the prime minister decided it was time for him to go.
Mr Kwarteng is not used to failure, rising up the political ranks fairly quickly after becoming an MP in 2010 – although that did take a few attempts.
He is also no stranger to causing controversy and sticking to his guns.
There are multiple reports of him clashing with the Treasury – he vocally backed Owen Paterson during the lobbying scandal that engulfed the former MP, and he has come in for criticism for defending visiting foreign autocratic regimes, saying it was better than “shouting from the sidelines”.
Although he won his seat on a David Cameron/George Osborne ticket, he upset his bosses by advocating cutting the VAT rate to 15% by adding the charge to children’s clothes and food, and also criticised the chancellor’s Help to Buy housing scheme as inflationary.
But his close friendship with Ms Truss – with the pair even becoming neighbours on the same street in Greenwich – secured him a spot not only in the Treasury, but in history as the first black chancellor of the UK.
Eton to the City
Mr Kwarteng was born in 1975 in Waltham Forest, east London to Alfred and Charlotte, who had emigrated from Ghana to the UK as students in the 1960s and became an economist and barrister respectively.
An only child, he attended a state primary school before his parents sent him to a private school.
He then won a scholarship to Eton College before heading to Trinity College, Cambridge where he achieved a first-class degree in classics and history – and was also a member of its winning University Challenge team.
After Cambridge, he won another scholarship to Harvard University then returned to Cambridge to study for a PhD in economic history.
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have been close friends for years. Pic: Liz Truss/Instagram
His first career was as a journalist, writing columns for the Daily Telegraph, before he headed to the City where he worked as a financial analyst for big companies such as JP Morgan.
He ran for the seat of Brent East in the 2005 general election but came in third.
Mr Kwarteng then moved to chair one of the oldest think tanks in the UK, the Bow Group and in 2008 made the Conservative list of candidates for the London Assembly in 2008, but didn’t manage to secure a place.
In 2010, he secured a comfortable 22,000 majority in Spelthorne, Surrey, and had been on the rise since.
Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.
Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.
Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.
Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.
In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.
A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.
She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.
“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.
“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”
Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.
“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
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