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Kwasi Kwarteng

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hobson (talk | contribs) at 10:22, 1 September 2022 (→Dissolving ISC: The article cited says 'said to' have drawn up a pact, unless we know more than the Times we should probably follow suit). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Right Honourable
Kwasi Kwarteng
MP
Official portrait, 2021
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 January 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAlok Sharma
Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth
In office
24 July 2019 – 8 January 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byClaire Perry
Succeeded byAnne-Marie Trevelyan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
In office
16 November 2018 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded bySuella Braverman
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of Parliament
for Spelthorne
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byDavid Wilshire
Majority18,393 (37.2%)
Personal details
Born
Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng

(1975-05-26) 26 May 1975 (age 49)
Waltham Forest, London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Harriet Edwards
​
(m. 2019)​
Children1
EducationEton College
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Harvard University
Occupation
  • Politician
  • columnist
  • financial analyst
  • author
Websitekwasi4spelthorne.org.uk

Kwasi Kwarteng (born Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng, 26 May 1975)[1][2][3] is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Spelthorne since 2010.

On 16 November 2018, Kwarteng was appointed Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, following the resignation of Suella Braverman. Following the election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in July 2019, Kwarteng was promoted to Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, attending Cabinet as part of the role.

Early life and education

Kwarteng was born in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in 1975,[1] the only child[4] of Alfred K. Kwarteng and Charlotte Boaitey-Kwarteng, who had emigrated from Ghana as students in the 1960s.[5][6] His mother is a barrister[7] and his father an economist in the Commonwealth Secretariat.[6][8]

After starting school at a state primary school, Kwarteng attended Colet Court, an independent preparatory school in London, where he won the Harrow History Prize in 1988.[9] Kwarteng then went to Eton College,[1] where he was a King's Scholar and was awarded the prestigious Newcastle Scholarship prize. He read classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge, achieving a first in both subjects[10] and twice winning the Browne Medal. He was a member of the team which won University Challenge in 1995 (in the first series after the programme was revived by the BBC in 1994).[6][11] Whilst at Cambridge, he was a member of the University Pitt Club, and has since returned to visit.[12] He attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship, and then earned a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000.[13]

Early career

Before becoming a member of parliament, Kwarteng worked as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and as a financial analyst at JPMorgan Chase and other investment banks.[14] He wrote a book, Ghosts of Empire, about the legacy of the British Empire, published by Bloomsbury in 2011.[6] He also co-authored Gridlock Nation with Jonathan Dupont in 2011, about the causes of and solutions to traffic congestion in Britain.[15]

Early political career

Considered "a rising star on the right of the party",[16] Kwarteng was the Conservative candidate in the constituency of Brent East at the 2005 general election. He finished in third place behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather (who had won the seat in a 2003 by-election) and Yasmin Qureshi of the Labour Party. Kwarteng was chairman of the Bow Group in 2005–06. In 2006, The Times suggested that he could become the first black Conservative cabinet minister.[17] He was sixth on the Conservative list of candidates for the London Assembly in the 2008 London Assembly election, but was not elected as the Conservatives claimed only three London-wide list seats.

Parliamentary career

Official parliamentary portrait, 2017

2010 election and tenure

Kwarteng was selected as the Conservative candidate for Spelthorne at an open primary in January 2010 after the incumbent Conservative MP, David Wilshire, became mired in controversy arising from the Parliamentary expenses scandal and announced that he would be retiring from Parliament at the next general election.

Kwarteng won the seat with 22,261 votes (numerically more votes but a lower percentage of the vote than his predecessor). Kwarteng did not vote on the backbench EU Referendum Bill in October 2011.[18] Kwarteng irritated Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in 2013 by criticising the Help to Buy housing scheme as inflationary.[19]

In 2014, his book War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures and Debt was published. It is a history of capital and the enduring ability of money, when combined with speculation, to ruin societies.[20] The book has been translated into Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. In 2015 his next book, Thatcher's Trial: Six Months That Defined a Leader, was published.

Kwarteng was re-elected at the 2015 general election with an increased majority.[21] Kwarteng backed the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 referendum.[22]

Early ministerial career (2017–2019)

Following the 2017 general election, Kwarteng was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond. On 16 November 2018, Kwarteng replaced Suella Braverman as a minister in the Department for Exiting the EU.[23]

Kwarteng was a vocal supporter of Boris Johnson in the 2016 and 2019 Conservative Party leadership elections. After Johnson's victory in the latter election, on 25 July 2019 Kwarteng was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy along with Jo Johnson, brother of the Prime Minister.[24] He was appointed to the Privy Council on the same day.[25]

In September 2019, Kwarteng was criticised by former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell for stating on The Andrew Neil Show: "I'm not saying this, but, many people are saying that the judges are biased" after the Court of Session ruled that Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament was illegal. Kwarteng added: "The extent to which lawyers and judges are interfering in politics is something that concerns many people."[26]

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2021–present)

On 8 January 2021, as part of a mini-reshuffle, he replaced Alok Sharma as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.[27] He became the second black man to serve in the Cabinet, the first being Paul Boateng, who served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the first black Conservative. He also became the first black man to run a government department by being appointed to the level of Secretary of State.[28] He has committed his department to cutting global emissions to stop climate change.[29] In May 2021, Kwarteng opened a new electric car battery plant in Oxfordshire.[30]

Dissolving ISC

In March 2021, he was criticised for dissolving the Industrial Strategy Council, the advisory body seeking to regenerate Britain's regions.[31] In the days after the COP26 climate summit, Kwarteng met oil industry bosses to encourage them to continue drilling in the North Sea.[32]

In January 2022, while on a trip to Saudi Arabia, Kwarteng accepted flights and hospitality from Saudi Aramco, the majority state-owned energy firm. Kwarteng visited Saudi Arabia on 29 January. He was flown by Aramco to Dammam on 30 January and then gifted an overnight stay at the firm’s guesthouses within their residential compound. The next day, 31 January, Kwarteng was flown by Aramco to Jubail, and then Riyadh. He returned to the UK on 1 February. Kwarteng was also gifted a £300 Lenovo tablet. The BEIS department transparency data revealed that Kwarteng travelled to Saudi Arabia on a commercial flight costing the taxpayer £4430. He also visited Aramco's Shaybah oil field with the Saudi energy minister, although this wasn’t logged in BEIS transparency records. Many politicians criticised Kwarteng taking the Saudi state's hospitality, particularly in light of their human rights record, while others have raised concern whether he has broken the ministerial code.[33]

Kwarteng was earmarked by Boris Johnson to be dismissed as Business Secretary during a planned cabinet reshuffle in June 2022, something that left him "very upset". During the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Kwarteng and Liz Truss were said to have drawn up a pact to make him Chancellor of the Exchequer if she becomes prime minister.[4]

2021 gas crisis

Main article: 2021 United Kingdom natural gas supplier crisis

From August 2021, high European wholesale natural gas prices caused some smaller domestic suppliers in the United Kingdom to go out of business. In September 2021, the fuel supply crisis caused serious disruption to the supply of road fuel.[34] Kwarteng said that "There is no question of the lights going out, of people being unable to heat their homes. There will be no three-day working week, or a throwback to the 1970s."[35] He also said: "The government will not be bailing out failed companies. There will be no rewards for failure or mismanagement."[36] Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow business secretary, accused Kwarteng of being "complacent about the situation we are facing" as though it "was normal for a number of suppliers to go down each winter. But what we are dealing with is far from normal – 800,000 customers losing their suppliers yesterday alone, 1.5 million in the last six weeks."[37]

Role in the Owen Paterson scandal

Kwarteng was an outspoken supporter of Owen Paterson, who had been found by the Commons Select Committee on Standards to have committed "an egregious case of paid advocacy".[38] In reaction to this ruling, Kwarteng called for the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, to "decide her position". The government later U-turned its support for Paterson, who resigned as an MP. The opposition called for an investigation into Kwarteng, claiming he may have breached the ministerial code.[39]

On 15 November 2021, Kwarteng published a letter of apology to Stone, in which he said he "did not mean to express doubt about your ability to discharge your role" and apologised for "any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused".[40]

Political views

A supporter of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in the 2016 referendum,[22] Kwarteng is considered a member of the right-wing of the Conservative Party.[41]

Racial issues and colonialism

The author of Ghosts of Empire (2011), a book about the legacy of the British Empire,[6] Kwarteng's views on colonialism have been described as "nuanced".[42] Kwarteng has argued that many supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and critics of British imperialism have "a very kind of cartoon-like view” of the past, arguing:[43]

“So within that time and geography there’s a huge amount of variety, different cultures and different time periods and getting a sensitivity to that is hugely important and I think a lot of the debate around Black Lives Matter and imperialism or colonialism has a very kind of cartoon-like view of what was happening over centuries across a quarter of the world.”

Economic issues

In August 2012, Kwarteng co-authored a book with four fellow MPs titled Britannia Unchained. The authors made a number of remarks and suggestions, including that "Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world".[44] The book argues for a radical shrinking of the welfare state in order "to return it to the contributory principle envisioned by its founder Sir William Beveridge – that you get benefits in return for contributions".[16]

Personal life

Kwarteng is described by friends as an "intensely private" person.[4] He was previously in a relationship with former Conservative Home Secretary Amber Rudd.[45] He married City solicitor Harriet Edwards in December 2019.[46] Their daughter was born on 15 October 2021.[47] He has lived in Bayswater, and in January 2022 purchased a house in Greenwich.[4]

Publications

  • Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World. Bloomsbury London. 2011. ISBN 9781408822906.
  • After the Coalition. Biteback, London. 2011. ISBN 9781849542128. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  • Gridlock Nation. Biteback, London. 2011. ISBN 9781849541121. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  • Britannia Unchained: Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. 2012. ISBN 9781137032232. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  • War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures and Debt. Bloomsbury, London. 2014. ISBN 9781408831687.
  • Thatcher's Trial: Six Months That Defined a Leader. Bloomsbury, London. 2015. ISBN 9781408859179.

References

  1. ^ a b c Anon (2017). "Kwarteng, Dr Kwasi Alfred Addo". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U251073. {{cite encyclopedia}}: More than one of |surname= and |author= specified (help); Unknown parameter |othernames= ignored (help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8745.
  3. ^ "Kwasi Kwarteng MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d Ellery, Ben (26 August 2022). "Kwasi Kwarteng: The 'amiable geek' set to be UK's next chancellor". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Tories adopt 'black Boris' as candidate" Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Staines News, 25 January 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Biography". Kwart2010.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Archived at archive.org 10 July 2010.
  7. ^ "'2 out of 12 at 100' – Marking 100 years of Women in Law". Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  8. ^ Katwala, Sunder (31 July 2011). "Kwasi Kwarteng: The rising star of politics and letters". The Observer. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  9. ^ Kinchen, Rosie (4 May 2014). "Kwasi Kwarteng: Big brain, big mouth, big Tory future on hold". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  10. ^ "telegraph.co.uk political database". Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  11. ^ "Trinity on University Challenge". Sean Blanchflower. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  12. ^ Bland, Archie (4 September 2020). "Elite Cambridge club asks members for £50,000 to keep it open". The Guardian. ISSN 0956-1382. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  13. ^ Kwarteng, Kwasi Alfred Addo. The political thought of the recoinage crisis of 1695–7. cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 894597679. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.621890. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018. Free access icon
  14. ^ Pickard, Jim (19 January 2021). "Kwasi Kwarteng, the free marketeer learning benefits of state action". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  15. ^ Poole, Steven (7 October 2011). "Et cetera: Steven Poole's non-fiction choice – reviews". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  16. ^ a b "Turn benefits into repayable loan, says Tory group". BBC News. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 28 August 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Power couple behind the new Tory throne". The Times. 26 March 2006. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008.
  18. ^ Evans, Lisa (26 October 2011). "Naming the MPs who voted for an EU referendum". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  19. ^ Jowit, Juliette (22 March 2013). "Government's new housing policy 'can help wealthy buy second homes'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  20. ^ Anthony Sattin (12 May 2014). "War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Year History of Empires, Adventures and Debt review – a comprehensive study of money and society". The Observer. Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  21. ^ "Spelthorne Parliamentary constituency results (2015 General Election)". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 January 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  22. ^ a b Stuart Reid (10 July 2016). "A Brexiteer's Celebration – a conversation with Kwasi Kwarteng". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  23. ^ "Stephen Barclay named new Brexit Secretary". BBC News. 16 November 2018. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  24. ^ "Who's who in Boris Johnson's first cabinet". The Guardian. 25 July 2019. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  25. ^ "ORDERS APPROVED AND BUSINESS TRANSACTED AT THE PRIVY COUNCIL HELD BY THE QUEEN AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE ON 25TH JULY 2019" (PDF). Privy Council Office. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Kwasi Kwarteng criticised for 'biased judges' comment". BBC News. 12 September 2019. Archived from the original on 12 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  27. ^ "Alok Sharma becomes full-time COP26 president and Kwasi Kwarteng is appointed as Secretary of State for Business". GOV.UK (Press release). 8 January 2021. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  28. ^ Yorke, Harry (8 January 2021). "Kwasi Kwarteng becomes first black Conservative Secretary of State". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  29. ^ Watts, Rob (20 April 2021). "UK commits to 'world's most ambitious target' for emissions cuts". Upstream Online. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  30. ^ Whittaker, Rebecca (8 May 2021). "New Battery factory which aims to enable electric cars to drive faster opens". Oxford Mail. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  31. ^ Inman, Phillip (4 March 2021). "UK business leaders condemn 'sad and bad' axing of industrial strategy panel". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  32. ^ Gosden, Emily (3 January 2022). "Kwasi Kwarteng courted oil bosses after Cop26". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  33. ^ "Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng travelled around Saudi Arabia on flights paid by energy giant Aramco". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  34. ^ Morris, Sophie (29 September 2021). "Fuel crisis: Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng 'not guaranteeing anything' over impact on Christmas". Sky News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  35. ^ "Where does the UK get its gas and is it facing a shortage this winter?". BBC News. 21 September 2021. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  36. ^ Staunton, Denis (20 September 2021). "UK gas supply issues will not see 'lights going out', business secretary Kwarteng says". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  37. ^ Ambrose, Jillian (23 September 2021). "Kwasi Kwarteng vetoes subsidies for gas supply giants to take on rivals' clients". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  38. ^ "UK lawmaker should be suspended over 'egregious' paid lobbying - watchdog". Reuters. 26 October 2021. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  39. ^ Morris, Sophie (4 November 2021). "Owen Paterson resignation: Labour call for investigation into Kwasi Kwarteng's comments to Sky News about standards watchdog". Sky News. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  40. ^ "Minister Kwasi Kwarteng sorry for upset caused by Standards Commissioner remarks". BBC News. 15 November 2021. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  41. ^ Abbey, Nels. "Kwasi Kwarteng Is a Brilliant Man in a Bad Role". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  42. ^ "Kwasi Kwarteng MP: 'People should look at history with a bit more humility'". Politicshome.com. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  43. ^ "Business secretary says much of debate around Black Lives Matter has 'kind of cartoon-like view' of past". The Independent. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  44. ^ "Tackle 'lazy' Britain, fellow Tories tell David Cameron". London Evening Standard. 17 August 2012. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  45. ^ White, Roland (23 September 2018). "Amber gives green light to suitors". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  46. ^ Collingridge, John (16 January 2021). "Challenging brief for cabinet new boy Kwasi Kwarteng". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  47. ^ Greg Hands, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (19 October 2021). "Net Zero Strategy and Heat and Buildings Strategy". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. Archived 20 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Spelthorne
2010–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
2018–2019 		Position abolished
Preceded by Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth
2019–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
2021–present 		Incumbent
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