Kwasi Kwarteng to stand down as Spelthorne MP
Kwasi Kwarteng #KwasiKwarteng
Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced he will be standing down from Parliament at the next general election.
The MP for Spelthorne in Surrey said on X it had been an “honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010”.
Mr Kwarteng became the UK’s first black Conservative cabinet minister in 2021.
A senior figure in former Prime Minster Liz Truss’s government, he was sacked as chancellor in October 2022.
He lasted just 38 days in the role after a mini-budget he produced resulted in financial turbulence and a revolt from Tory MPs.
Announcing his decision not to stand again, he said: “I informed my association chair of my decision not to stand at the next general election.
“It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in Parliament.”
His brief tenure as chancellor made him the second shortest serving chancellor behind Iain Macleod, who died a month after taking office in 1970.
Prior to his time at the Treasury, Mr Kwarteng served in a number of junior ministerial roles before becoming business secretary under Boris Johnson in 2021.
Mr Kwarteng is the latest Surrey MP to announce he is standing down.
The others are: Sir Paul Beresford in Mole Valley, Crispin Blunt in Reigate, Chris Grayling in Epsom & Ewell, and Dominic Raab in Esher & Walton.
There are currently 11 MPs for Surrey but the county will have 12 at the next election due to boundary changes.
Mr Kwarteng secured a majority of 18,393 at the last election.
His Spelthorne seat has been a generally safe Conservative one, returning a Labour MP only once in more than 100 years.
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