Liz Truss wept as she sacked closest friend and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, new book claims

A sobbing Liz Truss told her Chancellor, ‘They’re already coming for me, Kwasi’ as she sacked him following the fallout of the disastrous mini-budget, a new book reveals.

The Prime Minister was said to have been in tears when she dismissed her longtime ally Kwasi Kwarteng, as panic-stricken Treasury bosses warned the UK could descend into the status of a ‘Third World country’ unable to sell its debts on global bond markets.

Behind-the-scenes revelations about Truss’s action-packed 45 days in power are laid bare in the new book Out Of The Blue by Harry Cole and James Heale, The Sun reports.

The much-vaunted budget was dreamt up in secret by Truss and Kwarteng and then shared with shocked aides – who were apparently informed of its breadth just hours before it was launched.

It was only after the pound plunged to a 37-year low and she received warnings that the economic downturn could take 20 years to heal that Truss made the personally heartrending decision to sack Kwarteng.

Kwarteng told the book’s authors: ‘I remember saying to her in our first year in Parliament, you’re going to get to the top because you’re going to stick around longer than anyone else.’

But despite a triumphant victory over Rishi Sunak in the two-month Tory leadership contest, Truss’ tenure came to an abrupt end in an even shorter time period.

Kwarteng was reportedly told by the Office for Budget Responsibility that the Mini-Budget had blown a £72billion black hole in the nation’s finances.

The ambitious plans made cuts to income tax, National Insurance, stamp duty and taxes for self-employed people. This necessitated spending cuts to stop debt interest bankrupting the country, but were deemed to be politically impossible. 

Truss remained defiant at she told PMQs on October 12 that she planned not to implement any spending cuts.

The statement led to further panic from No10 insiders, who feared double digit inflation would create ‘significant spending cuts’ with some even speculating she could be ‘done in for lying to the House’ and face an investigation like her predecessor Boris Johnson.

As uncertainty arose at home, Kwarteng flew to Washington for the IMF and endured a series of difficult meetings in which his Government plans were attacked by overseas officials.

While he was away, senior civil servants are said to have worked on Truss to reverse her economic policy. Cabinet secretary Simon Case and head of Treasury James Bowler both reportedly made their positions clear the the PM.

A source said: ‘Bowler, all the Treasury officials, Case – they all sat around the Cabinet table and said to the PM, “unless you junk [your plans for] corporation tax, we are going to have the most catastrophic meltdown… They scared the s**t out of her basically.’

Truss was said to have initially reacted to the warning as a Bank of England and Treasury ‘stitch up’ before taking the predictions seriously.

After Kwarteng was summoned back from the US on October 14, news that he was to be sacked after just 38 days in his post was already being shared on Twitter.

Kwarteng is said to have warned a tearful Truss that she would be next during a meeting across the Cabinet table, only for her to respond: ‘They’re already coming for me Kwasi.’

Despite appointing Jeremy Hunt, a man from different political wing of the party, as her new Chancellor, Truss stepped down herself just a week after Kwarteng’s departure.

Liz’s team are in line for honours… after just 44 days’ work: Aide ‘pushed for advisers to get knighthoods’ following seven weeks in the job

By Jacob Thorburn for MailOnline and Harriet Line, Deputy Political Editor for the Daily Mail 

Liz Truss could shower her closest allies with knighthoods and peerages as part of a controversial resignation honours list despite serving as prime minister for less than two months.

Mark Fullbrook, the former premier’s chief of staff, is understood to have suggested she reward her outgoing staff and advisers with gongs.

Key members of Miss Truss’s team and senior donors could receive knighthoods or peerages regardless of her disastrously short tenure. 

Those in line to receive honours could include special adviser Jason Stein, who was suspended last week over a critical briefing about Sajid Javid. 

Other names touted include policy adviser Jamie Hope, head of strategy Iain Carter economic adviser Matthew Sinclair and deputy chief of staff, Ruth Porter.

It was also suggested last night that Mr Fullbrook had pushed for an honour himself, but this was denied by sources close to the former adviser. 

Downing Street sources insisted it would be following convention for an outgoing prime minister to issue such a list. Opposition parties have already widely rounded on the suggestion. 

Willie Sullivan, of the Electoral Reform Society, said: ‘If Liz Truss chooses to pack the Lords with new peers on leaving office, it will only further damage Westminster’s legitimacy at a time when public faith in politics is already stretched to the limit.’ 

Over the weekend, the outgoing prime minister held a series of farewell events for MPs and staff at Chequers on her final weekend in post.

The departing premier, who resigned this week after a disastrous spell in No10, used the grace-and-favour mansion in Buckinghamshire for a string of goodbye parties.

It was suggested that her mooted honours list could be as controversial as Harold Wilson’s notorious 1976 ‘Lavender List’ in which a number of recipients were rich businessmen.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list has not yet been published. 

Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both shunned the opportunity to submit resignation honours amid the cash for expenses scandal. 

Mr Brown did give out honours as part of his ‘dissolution list’ following the conclusion of Parliament that saw more than two dozen peerages handed out.

It comes days after a backlash broke out over Miss Truss’s controversial compensation package following the dramatic collapse of her premiership.

The ex-PM is in line for a near-£20,000 payout and a taxpayer-funded allowance of up to £115,000 a year following her resignation after just 44 days in office.

The Public Duty Cost Allowance (PDCA) was introduced in 1991 in the wake of the departure of Margaret Thatcher to ‘assist former prime ministers still active in public life’.

They are entitled to the money for the rest of their lives, unless they take up another public appointment.

Former PMs have to supply supporting documents – such as salary details for staff, or travel receipts – in order to receive the cash.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it would be ‘the right thing to do’ for Miss Truss not to claim any of the allowance. 

He added: ‘She’s done 44 days in office, she’s not really entitled to it, she should turn it down and not take it’. 

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats were accused of hypocrisy after calling for Miss Truss to turn down the £115,000 annual allowance – despite the fact their former leader Sir Nick Clegg claimed it for four years after his party was annihilated in 2015.

Sir Tony Blair still claims the full allowance despite being a millionaire. One Tory MP said: ‘The hypocrisy of the Left is always breathtaking. It knows no bounds.’