Kwasi Kwarteng on Liz Truss's "insane" decisions
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng joins us at News Agents HQ for an exclusive interview.
He reflects on his disastrous time as chancellor under Liz Truss, and the mini-budget which sparked a market crash. He still bristles when asked to apologise for his role in it all.
He discusses the future of the Conservative Party as it searches for its new leader, the US Presidential election, and of course his thoughts on Liz Truss herself, describing her as an "unusual" woman.
Editor: Tom Hughes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.6 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:13.0 | I think she's an unusual person. |
| 0:15.3 | I think it takes a great strength of character to get to the top, to get to where she did. |
| 0:20.0 | What does that mean, though? |
| 0:20.9 | I think she's unusual. I think she's, I think she's someone who has got tremendous determination, |
| 0:25.1 | tremendous drive, tremendous sense of urgency. But, you know, sometimes... |
| 0:28.6 | A high EQ? She doesn't read the room. |
| 0:31.1 | That is quasi-quarteng, the former chancellor, on Liz Truss, who sacked him and was gone herself six days later. |
| 0:42.3 | He doesn't quite say she's unhinged. He doesn't quite say she's mad. But clearly, that phrase, |
| 0:51.1 | she's a very unusual woman, is doing a lot of heavy lifting. |
| 0:57.5 | So what has Quarteng learned since, that appalling period in British politics? |
| 1:04.2 | Stay with us for an extended interview. |
| 1:07.0 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:11.6 | The Newsagents. The Newsagents. |
| 1:13.6 | High tax rates damage Britain's competitiveness. |
| 1:19.6 | They reduce the incentive to work, to invest and to start a business. |
| 1:23.6 | And the higher the tax, the more ways people seek to avoid them, or work |
| 1:28.8 | elsewhere or simply work less, rather than putting their time and effort to more creative |
| 1:35.3 | and productive ends. Take the additional rate of income tax. At 45%, it is currently higher |
| 1:42.0 | than the headline top rate in G7 countries like the US and Italy. |
| 1:48.0 | And it is even higher than social democracies like Norway. |
... |
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