On the same day he delivered his mini-budget, Kwasi Kwarteng reportedly went to a private champagne celebration with hedge fund managers at a Conservative donor’s house.
During the gathering on the evening of Friday, September 23, at the west London house of banker Andrew Law, the chancellor is said to have informed attendees about impending government expenditure cuts.
Kwarteng’s mini-budget earlier in the day, which included a £45 billion package of tax cuts mostly benefiting the rich, sparked economic unrest, causing the pound to plunge to its lowest level since 1985 and the Bank of England to step in to protect pension funds.
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To solve the financial crisis, Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded that parliament be recalled, as reported by the Guardian.
While visitors drank wine, champagne, and cocktails and applauded him on the measures announced in the House of Commons, the chancellor is alleged to have warned them of impending budget cuts in the austerity style, according to the Sunday Times.
According to Tory insiders who spoke to the Sunday Times, Kwarteng spent an hour discussing his mini-budget proposals and making a five-minute speech at the gathering at Law’s house that was organised by the Conservative party’s campaign headquarters.
Sarah Olney, the Treasury spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “It seems the chancellor was sipping champagne with hedge fund managers benefitting from the dropping pound as struggling homeowners saw their mortgage bills spiral.
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