Kwasi Kwarteng: The British-born Ghanaian who is now UK’s first Black Finance Minister

British-born Ghanaian, Kwasi Kwarteng, was named as the new UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. Finance Minister) yesterday September 6 by new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, in a historical feat.

This is because he is the first Black to ascend to the position which is regarded as only second to the Prime Minister’s office in UK political circles.



Read full article/> His appointment has in effect made him the second most powerful political figure in the UK.

This piece takes a deeper look at the profile of the close ally of the new PM.

Kwarteng was born Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng in Waltham Forest, East London, in May 1975 to Ghanaian parents, Alfred and Charlotte, who had both immigrated to the United Kingdom a decade earlier as students.

His parents, who went on to become an international economist and a barrister respectively, sent him to an expensive private prep school that produced numerous Cabinet-level politicians. He then attended the famous Eton college — a production line for British leaders including Boris Johnson and David Cameron.

Growing up, Kwasi Kwarteng was a child prodigy sweeping a number of prestigious awards and also displaying his high mental acumen.

“An only child, Mr. Kwarteng started off in a state primary, but at the age of eight, he was sent by his parents to attend the independent prep school Colet Court.

“He was a high achiever, being awarded the Harrow History Prize in 1988 - a prize George Orwell once missed out on - and soon he headed to Eton College as a King's Scholar, meaning he was awarded a scholarship due to his impressive exam results.

“Mr. Kwarteng's academic prowess grew, winning Eton's prestigious Newcastle Scholarship - the best performer in a week-long set of written exams - and his next step was Cambridge, after an interview of course,” the UK Sky News portal reports.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s official website details that he studied Classics and History at Cambridge University, and then attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship. He returned to complete a PhD in Economic History at Cambridge in 2000.

The BBC reports that Kwasi Kwarteng worked as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and a financial analyst at banks including JP Morgan in the City of London but later got involved in Conservative politics as chairman of the Bow Group think tank.

He tried entering mainstream politics but was unsuccessful till 2010 when he had his breakthrough to be elected as MP for Spelthorne.

“He made his first attempt to become an MP in 2005. He stood as the Conservative candidate for Brent East at the general election, but came third. There was also an unsuccessful run for the London Assembly in 2008.

“However, he became part of the "class of 2010", a cohort of politicians entering Westminster for the first time that year. He was elected as MP for Spelthorne in Surrey and entered Parliament the same time as future colleagues Liz Truss, Priti Patel and Sajid Javid,” BBC reports.

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He was re-elected in 2015, 2017 and 2019. In Parliament, the British-born Ghanaian has served on the Transport Select Committee, the Work and Pensions Select Committee and as a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s official website further discloses that he has also served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 2018, Kwasi was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union, and in 2019 he was appointed as Minister of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In January 2021, Kwasi was appointed as Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In Spelthorne where he is MP, Kwasi has consistently supported local enterprise, and in 2013 he launched the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition to find and support the local entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The competition has successfully taken place every year since, except in 2020 due to pandemic.

UK’s official government website, gov.uk, reports on Kwasi Kwarteng’s personal life that his passions include history, music and languages. He has lived in and around London for most of his life. He has authored several books, including Ghosts of Empire, War and Gold, and Thatcher’s Trial.

BBC adds that he married solicitor Harriet Edwards in 2019 having previously dated former Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s new role as Chancellor comes in at a time when the cost of living in the UK is rising with energy bills also soaring high.

He is however praised as someone who has the character and intellect to steer the affairs of UK under the right leadership.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, according to gov.uk, is the government’s chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling public spending. He has overall responsibility for the work of the Treasury.

The Chancellor’s responsibilities cover fiscal policy (including the presenting of the annual Budget), monetary policy, setting inflation targets, ministerial arrangements (in his role as Second Lord of the Treasury) and overall responsibility for the Treasury’s response to COVID-19.

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