Chancellor makes early return from IMF meeting in Washington amid rumours around his job and that of prime minister Liz Truss
The international trade minister, Greg Hands, has insisted it is “not unusual” for the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to be returning early from a trip abroad.
Speaking on Sky News, Hands said:
It’s not unusual to come back a day early from an international visit. He’s coming back for discussions with colleagues, we obviously have the medium-term fiscal plan coming up on 31 October, so just in a couple of weeks’ time. There’s work to be done, there’s conversations to be had with colleagues.
But the major meat of the meetings of the IMF and World Bank have finished and the chancellor of the exchequer has been there two days.
Kwasi Kwarteng has dramatically cut short his visit to the International Monetary Fund, flying home early from Washington in response to the mounting political crisis over his tax-cutting budget.
Adding to signs that the government is preparing to announce a U-turn over its plan to scrap a rise in corporation tax, the chancellor left the US capital a day earlier than planned.
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