‘Flipping’ Treasury minister quits
By Alex Stevenson
Exchequer secretary Kitty Ussher has resigned from the government after just ten days at the Treasury.
She was forced to quit after revelations published in tomorrow’s Telegraph newspaper showed she had avoided capital gains tax by ‘flipping’ her Burnley home.
Ms Ussher had been a minister at the Department of Work and Pension before Gordon Brown’s recent reshuffle, which saw her transferred to take up the fourth-ranking position at the Treasury.
Reports suggest had she not been a Treasury minister she would have survived the night.
“The prime minister has accepted the resignation of Kitty Ussher,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“Sarah McCarthy-Fry has been appointed as her replacement. A successor to Ms McCarthy-Fry will be announced in due course.”
Ms McCarthy-Fry, the MP for Portsmouth North, updated her Facebook status on hearing the news: “Sarah is really excited about her new role at the Treasury – life in government is certainly never boring.”
Ms Ussher is not the first government minister to resign since the reshuffle earlier this month. Plans for Lord Carter, the minister responsible for the Digital Britain report published yesterday, to stand down soon were revealed earlier this week.
