Kwasi Kwarteng delivered his address to the Tory conference after a bruising day in which he U-turned on his plan to cut tax for high earners. He admitted his economic plan had caused “a little turbulence” and that it had been a “tough day”.
Much of the response inside the hall where the chancellor was delivering his speech appeared muted – with one of the loudest cheers reserved for repealing EU laws – and media commentators were left underwhelmed by one of the shortest conference speeches delivered by a chancellor in modern times.
Here is a roundup
The Guardian’s Rafael Behr said Kwarteng should have kept the speech to under five minutes.
The glaring problem with this speech is its presumption that no-one - not even Boris Johnson's government - had ever thought of growing the economy before.
— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) October 3, 2022
It's also *very* repetitive. Cut some of the multiple references to inherited tax burden, Putin, Covid legacy, how important growth is, and you could easily get it down to <5 mins
— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) October 3, 2022
He delivered that like it was a panel event on the fringe. All that was missing was the preamble where he says he's very sorry but he'll have to dash off a bit early to get to his next session.
— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) October 3, 2022
James Forsyth from the Spectator said not announcing new policy was sensible.
No announcements in Kwasi Kwarteng speech. But given any would have been drowned out by the drama of the u turn, think that was sensible. It was a speech to get through for him
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) October 3, 2022
George Eaton from the New Statesman said the speech was empty.
Remarkable how little there was in Kwarteng's speech on productivity and infrastructure spending given the UK's biggest economic problems (not higher taxes).
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) October 3, 2022
Tom Newton Dunn from Talk TV said he did not think the speech would impress Tories.
Well that was a sweaty 20 minutes😓. Apart from a couple of vague early nods to his 45p U-turn, zero contrition and zero further announcements from Kwasi Kwarteng on fiscal discipline. Instead, we press on. Unconvinced that will persuade round the legion of Tory sceptics #CPC2022
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 3, 2022
Hatty Collier from the i said some thought Kwarteng was guilty of understatement.
A mortgage broker reacts to Kwasi Kwarteng's speech, telling @theipaper: "Calling the markets 'a little turbulent' is like saying that the Mount Vesuvius eruption was a small bonfire."https://t.co/jtGnpD2aaT
— Hatty Collier (@HattyCollier) October 3, 2022
Freddie Hayward from the New Statesman found the speech contradictory.
Kwarteng:
— Freddie Hayward (@freddiejh8) October 3, 2022
"We reversed that story of national decline," after 12 yrs of Tory rule.
"The path ahead of us was one of slow managed decline," after 12 years of Tory rule.
Which is it?
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot made a similar point.
Struggling to understand the logic of Kwarteng saying the Tory governments reversed years of decline under Labour but then saying the path they were on prior to his Budget was a path of national decline. Who is doing the declining?
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) October 3, 2022
Kevin Schofield from Huffpost UK points out what’s missing.
Pretty amazing that Kwasi Kwarteng managed to avoid the words "inflation", "interest rates" and "mortgages" in that Tory conference speech. Can't think why.
— Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) October 3, 2022
The Guardian’s John Crace called it vacuous.
For a supposedly clever person, Kwarteng just delivered the most intellectually vacuous and incoherent speech.
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) October 3, 2022
It sounded like a suicide note
Duncan Weldon, the economist and former BBC journalist, decided that the speech’s narrative was a confused one.
Rhetorically that was quite a strange speech. Opening was all about how things had been going wrong - high taxes, weak growth - and the budget was a new beginning & a change for the better.
— Duncan Weldon (@DuncanWeldon) October 3, 2022
Ending was about how Conservative govt had ended national decline under Labour.
The broadcaster Sangita Myska said most of the speech sounded like a rehash.
Kwarteng: talks about protecting the poor, securing public services and says Conservative values include low taxes for business. Rest of the speech was pretty much a restatement of the Fiscal Event
— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) October 3, 2022
Sam Coates, the deputy political editor at Sky News, picked up on how the chancellor’s words were an implicit criticism of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor.
Forget a consensual approach, Kwasi Kwarteng goes in two footed. Says Britain was facing "slow managed decline" (hello Boris! hello Rishi"
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) October 3, 2022
And mentions twice 70 year tax burden - again implicit Sunak criticism - at a time when Truss gvt ought to be reaching out to his supporters
The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff said Kwarteng mostly ignored the problems with the mini-budget.
Extraordinary really to promise ‘fiscal discipline’ with a straight face after what we’ve just seen. Apart from the odd jokey reference, that speech essentially ignored everything that’s just happened, as if it was someone else’s budget entirely
— gabyhinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) October 3, 2022
Kevin Maguire of the Daily Maguire was particularly scathing.
That was a brief, empty, unremarkable, muted and formulaic speech from Kwasi Kwarteng.
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) October 3, 2022
The Chancellor's speech is usually the second most important after the PM's.
Begods.
And Christopher Hope had picked up on the initial reaction in the room as Kwarteng arrived.
Liz Truss enters for Kwasi Kwarteng's big conference speech. Half-hearted applause. Some stand, others don't. Huge moment now for the Chancellor to sell his U-turn on the 45p tax rate. #CPC22
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) October 3, 2022