Kwasi Kwarteng was first elected as the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 18,393.
The constituency of Spelthorne is a compact seat found to the north of Surrey close to the intersection of the M25 and M3 motorways. It includes the towns of Sunbury, Stanwell, Ashford, and Staines, itself the home of the mythical TV character Ali G. Incorporating a section of the River Thames, and a number of reservoirs, this seat is very close to Heathrow airport. It contains a large amount of commercial property. Although it is less affluent than some of the Surrey seats, home ownership is high in this part of England, and Spelthorne is a safe Conservative seat which has been held by the party continuously since 1950.
Kwarteng served for 38 days as Chancellor of the Exchequer between September and October 2022. Following turmoil on the financial markets in the light of his mini-budget, Mr Kwarteng was sacked by Liz Truss. He thus became the second shortest ever serving UK Chancellor.
Mr Kwarteng was previously regarded as a long standing ally of Liz Truss. Prior to the pair moving to their respective houses in Downing Street, Truss and Kwarteng also lived on the same street in south London.
Kwarteng sat in the Cabinet as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between 2021 and 2022. He was previously Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth between 2019 and 2021, and Under Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union between 2018 and 2019.
Kwasi Kwarteng was born to Ghanian parents in London in 1975. He won a scholarship to Eton College, and proceeded to read history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He earned a Bachelor’s degree and a PhD in British History. He was later a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.
Prior to entering politics, Kwarteng had a number of jobs in the City. He worked as a company analyst for a selection of banks including JP Morgan and Cazenove.
Kwarteng was once on the series winning team on University Challenge in Jeremy Paxman’s first year as the host. For those that remember, Kwarteng did seem to answer an “extremely” high number of the questions in the competition.
In 2011, Kwarteng co-authored the pamphlet, Gridlock Nation, looking at solutions to congestion in Britain. In 2012, Kwarteng co-authored the book Britannia Unchained with others in the Conservative Party including Priti Patel, and Dominic Raab.
Kwarteng is also the author or the book Ghosts of Empire, which narrates the global legacy of the British Empire.
Kwarteng supported Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, and backed Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
Kwarteng was married in 2019. He was once reportedly in a relationship with the former Home Secretary, Amber Rudd.
Email: kwasi.kwarteng.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.kwasi4spelthorne.org.uk/
