The former chancellor, who was sacked by the then prime minister, told TalkTV’s First Edition: “She said, ‘Well, I’ve only got two years’ and I said, ‘You’ll have two months if you keep going.’ like this’.” Mr Kwarteng accepted that he was “responsible” for the budget plan and that he “won’t wash his hands of me [of] the”. However, he refused to apologize for what happened, saying instead: “Looking back, I think we could have taken a much more measured approach.” The Tory MP also confirmed rumors he learned of his sacking on Twitter and said that when he arrived at Number 10, Mrs Truss was “upset and emotional”. Politics Live: Sunak has first talks with Sturgeon and Drakeford “She was very dynamic” Asked by presenter Tom Newton Dunn what went wrong, the MP said: “So I think we tried to do too much too quickly. Too much, too fast. I think the strategic goal was right. “But I think we should have had a much more measured approach, because we could have, as we have an autumn statement. And of course, it will be in the budget in April. “Well, I think that was, you know, her vision. Her move was 100 percent the right thing to do, but I think we needed a better tactical plan to achieve what she wanted.” Mr Kwarteng continued to point the finger at Ms Truss, saying she was “very much of the view that we needed to take the opportunity and we hit the ground running”, adding: “She is very dynamic, very dynamic. That is wonderful power.” But he said “the lesson we have learned” is to have “a methodical and measured approach”. Asked who was responsible for the pace, the former prime minister again said he was “very much of the view that we needed to move things quickly”, adding: “But I think it was too fast.” However, he admitted he did not tell Ms Truss at the time, telling the programme: “Well, I said after the Budget that because we were going very fast even after the mini-budget, we were going at breakneck speed. And I said, ‘You know, we have to slow down, slow down.” “He said, ‘Well, I’ve only got two years,’ and I said, ‘You’ll have two months if you keep it up.’ Asked several times to apologise, Mr Kwarteng said instead: “I really feel sorry for people who are going through this difficult time in terms of remortgaging. I think it’s a really stressful thing. And I feel really sympathetic about that.” . The long-term political ally was brought into the Treasury by Ms Truss as her first cabinet appointment after winning the Conservative leadership contest in the summer. In September, he announced a series of unfunded tax cut policies in the Commons that sent markets into a tailspin. Initially the couple stuck to their plans, but after several setbacks, Mr Kwarteng was ousted by his boss and replaced by current chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who within days reversed all his plans. Days later, Ms Truss resigned from the post. “Buy her more time” Speaking about his dismissal, Mr Kwarteng said Ms Truss was ‘very emotional’, adding: ‘I can’t remember if she actually shed tears but she was very emotional and it was hard to do. “And I think she honestly thought that was the right thing to do to buy her more time to get her premiership on the right track. “I disagreed obviously, because I thought that if chancellors are sacked by the prime minister for doing what the prime minister did, that leaves the prime minister in a very weak position. And a lot of people said to me, ‘I knew when he was going to sack you that it was over.’ But she insisted the pair were still friends, despite missing a call from her “a couple of days ago” and still not returning it. Ending the interview, he praised the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saying he was “actually a very reliable Prime Minister” and “very cool and very careful”. But ahead of next week’s autumn statement, the former chancellor issued a warning that he still believes “you are not going to grow an economy or stimulate economic growth by raising our taxes”.
