Ex-Tory Party chairman lambasts Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng over ‘unconservative’ Mini Budget

Lord Chris Patten, a current Tory peer who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major but who has been a trenchant critic of Boris Johnson and Brexit in recent years, told The Yorkshire Post he was unconvinced by both the growth plans put forward the new administration as well as their wider political approach.

The remarks come as credit ratings agency Fitch cut the outlook on the UK’s rating from “stable” to “negative” following the Mini Budget as it highlighted concerns over higher budget deficits, increased Government debt and uncertainty over future policy after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng suggested further tax cuts could come.

It follows Lord Patten writing an article last week which described the Mini-Budget as being “as reckless as it is ideological”.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “I’m an old-fashioned Conservative. I actually believe in balancing the books, I actually believe in fiscal conservatism, I actually believe in the importance of institutions like the Bank of England, like a high-quality civil service, like the Office of Budget Responsibility.

“I don’t think it is very conservative to trash those institutions and I don’t think it is conservative to think you can cut taxes just by borrowing more money on top of huge amounts you’ve borrowed already. Then you say, well we are going to get it all back one day by growing faster. Well, chance would be a fine thing.

“Our policy is to assume we get a growth rate through the consequences of ideologically-driven juvenilia about what constitutes economic growth. This is a pretty undesirable position to be in and you can see from the opinion polls what people faced with leaps in their mortgages and worrying about public spending cuts think about it.

“I am extremely unimpressed by what has happened so far.”

He said while he is a “bit cautious” about recent polling showing huge leads for the Labour party in the wake of the Mini Budget, “there is no question the polls are all pointing in one bleak direction”.

Lord Patten added: “There’s a very important constitutional point here I think. I’m not against the party in the country choosing a leader of the party, I am against the Conservative party choosing the Prime Minister.

“The Prime Minister has to have the confidence of the Parliamentary party and in the first round of voting Liz Truss only had 50 MPs supporting her.

“It is not surprising she is going to be getting a lot of criticism from MPs who didn’t think she was up to the job before. To then fill the Government entirely with people who supported her in the voting means it is very difficult to unite the party.

“The Conservative party is fractured and it is pretty difficult to win an election if you are splintered.”

When asked if he and others within the party who have criticised both Liz Truss and Boris Johnson as well as Brexit are part of the problem, Lord Patten, who served as European Commissioner for External Relations between 1999 and 2004, said: “I’m looking forward to hearing what the advantages of Brexit were.

“Jacob Rees-Mogg once said it would take 50 years, well I’m not going to be around in 50 years so I hope something happens before then. We talk about taking back control with Brexit but who has got control now? The markets.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The government’s core economic mission is sustainable economic growth, which will lead to higher wages, greater opportunities and sustainable funding for public services.

“While it is right that we have taken action to support families and businesses with the emergency of rising energy prices this winter, the government is committed to debt falling as a share of GDP over the medium term.

“The Chancellor will set out more detail in the Medium Term Fiscal Plan, alongside a full OBR economic and fiscal forecast.”