Who is Britain’s new finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng?

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Kwasi Kwarteng, a long-time ally and political soulmate of new high minister Liz Truss, has been named as the UK’s next chancellor.

He takes over at a quintessential time for the UK economy, with hundreds of thousands searching to him for assist with hovering iciness power bills.

The choices he makes in the coming days and weeks will have a massive influence on the country’s future prospects, as properly as on the Conservative Party’s possibilities of protecting power.

He will no longer be brief of help from his new Downing Street neighbour. One buddy instructed the Times Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss had been a bit like “Batman and Robin”, adding: “They are each mild social misfits, amiable geeks, and have robust views which are in tune with every other.”

Nor is he probably to be accused of missing mental firepower or self-confidence. An Old Etonian, who grew to become the first black Conservative cupboard minister in 2021, he has a double first from Cambridge University and a PhD in monetary history. He is additionally a previous winner of notoriously challenging BBC quiz exhibit University Challenge.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The basics
Age: 47

Place of birth: East London

Education: Trinity College, Cambridge University, Harvard University

Family: Married to solicitor Harriet Edwards with one daughter