August 2023
Andrew Forrest, a hard act to follow
Twiggy’s barnstorming on-stage performances of the past week have been classics of the messianic genre.
- Joe Aston
- Exclusive
- Rich families
Andrew Forrest offers work to former UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng
Kwasi Kwarteng helped spark a UK financial crisis and was sacked after five weeks.
- Primrose Riordan
October 2022
- Opinion
- World elections
Rishi Sunak is a new and old-fashioned Tory
His time in office will hinge on his ability to deliver a measure of prosperity to a country in dire economic straits.
- Adrian Wooldridge
- Updated
- UK leadership
UK leadership battle begins after PM Truss quits
As Liz Truss succumbs to the turmoil, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history, the Tories give themselves just a week to install a successor.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- UK leadership
From Westminster to Canberra, zombie ideas are out
The Truss horror show happened because conservatives stick with ideas that are not working for voters, even when ideology says they should be.
- Laura Tingle
A guide to the mayhem of Liz Truss’ doomed prime ministership
She was in power for just six chaotic weeks, yet British PM Liz Truss managed to tank the pound, sack her ministers and lose a fight with a supermarket lettuce. How did it all go wrong?
- Leo Sands and Adela Suliman
- Opinion
- UK
A wake-up call for economic liberals
The destruction of Liz Truss shows what happens when the argument for economic freedom isn’t made.
- John Roskam
- Opinion
- Bonds
Hunt sources his policies from the bond market crowd
It is one thing to become leader of your country by popular acclaim. It is another to be anointed by the sovereign bond market. But that is the trick Jeremy Hunt may be about to accomplish.
- The Lex Column
- Updated
- UK politics
Truss stands firm as Hunt kills off tax cuts, caps energy prices
‘We went too far, too fast,’ says Prime Minister Liz Truss after newly appointed finance minister Jeremy Hunt junked almost her entire mini-budget.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- World politics
Restoring Britain’s credibility will be hard for Hunt
Another round of austerity is both impossible and undesirable. If the government is unwilling to reinstate all the tax cuts it has made, it needs to find other taxes to take their place.
- Updated
- Martin Wolf
Liz Truss battles for survival as business leaders call on her to quit
The UK prime minister’s allies warn Tory “plotters” that they risk a fresh general election if they succeed in ousting her.
- Updated
- Sebastian Payne and Daniel Thomas
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Less conversation, more policy action needed from Labor
The Albanese government is clear about the need for national conversations about the various challenges confronting Australia. It is far less clear about the need to lead them.
- Jennifer Hewett
Growth push went ‘too far, too fast’, says new UK chancellor
Jeremy Hunt said the government had gone too quickly in its drive for growth after PM Liz Truss was forced to fire his predecessor and make U-turns on tax-cutting plans amid market turmoil.
- Michael Holden
Pensions drama sparks call for rethink of $2.9trn market
The turmoil created by UK pension funds has prompted a call to look at their regulation.
- William Shaw and Greg Ritchie
- Analysis
- World politics
Lack of a better option the only thing saving Truss
The UK prime minister is facing political ruin after the collapse of her economic agenda, but Conservative MPs do not have an obvious successor to rally around.
- George Parker
British PM makes second tax U-turn after abruptly sacking Chancellor
British Prime Minister Liz Truss fired her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and scrapped parts of their unpopular economic package, in a desperate bid for political survival.
- Updated
- Elizabeth Piper
Kwarteng races back to London as UK budget crisis deepens
The UK government is preparing to abandon plans for a massive package of unfunded tax cuts that have roiled UK markets for the past three weeks.
- Philip Aldrick
Kwarteng cuts short IMF visit as UK budget crisis deepens
Following her heavily criticised mini-budget that blew a hole in the UK’s finances, Liz Truss is reportedly ready to do another U-turn.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
Kwasi Kwarteng says BoE will be to blame for any UK market ructions
Speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington, the chancellor said any turmoil after the central bank withdraws support ‘is a matter for the governor’.
- Philip Aldrick
Recession looms after surprise shrink in UK economy
The UK economy disappointed expectations and shrank in August as the cost of living crisis hit household budgets and business activity.
- Andrew Atkinson and Liza Tetley