Who is Kwasi Kwarteng? Everything You Need To Know About Britain's First Black Chancellor

Table of Contents

Key Facts About Kwasi Kwateng

He is a Ghanaian-born British politician.
Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng is his full name.
His date of birth is May 26, 1975.
He grew up in the area of London called Waltham Forest.
Alfred Kwarteng and Charolotte Boaitey-Kwarteng are his parents.
He is the only child.
He practices Christianity.
Harriet Edwards is his wife.
He has a daughter.
He has a Ph.D. in economics from Cambridge.
He’s worth $3 million.

Who is Kwasi Kwarteng

Kwasi Kwarteng is a Conservative MP for Spelthorne, Surrey, since May 2010. His full name is Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng. His birthday is 26 May 1975. Kwasi Kwarteng was Secretary of State for Business, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Energy and Industrial Strategy under Liz Truss. Kwasi Kwarteng was born in London to Ghanaian immigrants and attended Eton and Cambridge. Kwasi Kwarteng was a Daily Telegraph journalist and financial analyst before running for Parliament.

Kwasi Kwarteng was named Theresa May’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Brexit in November 2018. Before Boris Johnson became Conservative Party leader in July 2019, he was named Minister of State for Business, Energy, and Clean Growth. He was also named Secretary of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. On September 23, 2022, he proposed tax cuts in a “mini-budget” that was heavily criticized and led the pound to decline against the dollar. Kwasi Kwarteng was fired as Chancellor on October 14, 2022, after 38 days in office.

Kwasi Kwarteng Early Life

Kwasi Kwarteng was born on May 26, 1975, and he was brought up in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. His birthday is May 26. His parents, Alfred K. Kwarteng and Charolotte Boaitey-Kwarteng, moved to the United Kingdom from Ghana when they were students in the 1960s. He is their only child. His mother is a lawyer, and his father works for the Commonwealth Secretariat as an economist.

Kwasi Kwarteng Education

Kwasi Kwarteng received his primary education at a Waltham Forest public institution. In addition, he received the Harrow History Prize in the year 1988 while he was a student at the independent preparatory school, Colet Court, which is located in London. In addition, he received the Newcastle Scholarship prize and served as a King’s master during his time at Eton College, where he studied.

Kwasi Kwarteng earned a doctorate in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000 after attending Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. In addition, he received his doctorate in 2000.

Kwasi Kwarteng Career

Before Kwasi Kwarteng was elected to the House of Commons, he was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and a financial analyst for JPMorgan Chase, WestLB, and the hedge fund Odey Asset Management. Ghost of Empire, which he authored and had published by Bloomsbury in 2011, discussed the legacy of the British Empire. In addition, he co-authored Gridlock Nation with Jonathan Dupont in 2011, which was a book that discussed the causes of traffic congestion in Britain as well as the solutions to the problem. Both of these books were published in 2011.

In the year 2006, he served as head of the conservative think tank Bow Group. In addition, in that same year, it was speculated by The Times that he would become the first black Conservative cabinet minister. However, despite the fact that he was placed sixth on the Conservative list of candidates for the London Assembly in the election that took place in 2008, he was not elected.

He was chosen to be Philip Hammond’s Parliamentary Private Secretary after the general election of 2017. His appointment as minister for the UK’s Department for Exiting the European Union took effect on November 16, 2018, when he succeeded Suell Braverman. He campaigned as a supporter of Boris Johnson for Conservative Party leader in 2019, and after Boris Johnson’s victory, he was appointed Minister of State for Business. Kwasi Kwarteng replaced Alok Sharma on January 8, 2021, in a mini-change. Kwasi Kwarteng vowed to halve global emissions by 2021 to stop climate change. He was also accused for abolishing the Industrial Strategy Council, a regional regeneration advisory organization.

On September 6, 2022, he was appointed to the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer by the then-incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss. On September 23, 2022, he announced a package of economic measures that he dubbed “the Growth Plan 2022.” Among his ideas was a reduction in the first income tax rate from 20% to 19%, effective as of April 2023. Higher income tax rates of 45 percent in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland being repealed; utility rates being frozen; the April 2022 hike in national insurance being rolled back; the stamp duty threshold being raised; the proposed Health and Social Care Levy being scrapped; and the cap on bankers’ bonuses being removed.

Kwasi Kwarteng was ousted as Chancellor after 38 days on 14 October 2022, making him the second-shortest-serving after Iaian Macleod, who died a month after being appointed. Jeremy Hunt succeeded Kwasi Kwarteng. After being removed from his position as Chancellor, he was named Second Lord of the Treasury on October 18, 2022.

Kwasi Kwarteng Parents

Kwasi Kwarteng is his parents Albert K. Kwarteng and Charlotte Boaitey Kwarteng’s only child. His parents immigrated to the Great Britain from Ghana.

Kwasi Kwarteng Siblings

Kwasi Kwarteng does not have any siblings.

Kwasi Kwarteng Ethnicity

Kwasi Kwarteng’s family originates from the Ashanti or Asante region of central-southern Ghana.

Kwasi Kwarteng Religion

Kwasi Kwarteng is of Ashanti, sometimes known as Asante, ancestry, which is located in the middle and southern regions of Ghana.

Kwasi Kwarteng Wife

Kwasi Kwarteng was previously linked to ex-Conservative Home Secretary Amber Rudd, however the couple split in December 2019 when Kwarteng announced his marriage to City solicitor Harriet Edwards.