Kwasi Kwarteng Appointed As UK’s First Black Finance Minister
On Tuesday (September 6), Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss appointed business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng as the European nation’s new finance minister.
The move makes the 47-year-old British-born Ghanaian the first Black man to fill the role. According to Reuters, he was business and energy minister from January 2021 and previously held a junior role in the department. He also worked in the Brexit ministry.
Similar to Truss, Kwareng has expressed admiration for former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but has shown some pragmatism in applying such principles in his previous governmental roles.
According to the BBC, Kwareng takes over at a critical time for the UK economy as he will be tasked with helping fix the country’s cost of living crisis and soaring winter energy bills.
Additionally, Kwareng became the first Black Conservative cabinet minister when he was appointed to his first position in 2021 and is a past winner of the notoriously tough BBC quiz show University Challenge.
