Kwasi Kwarteng’s easy ride

Tory MPs were in an anxious mood as they returned to the Commons this afternoon after weeks of conference recess and government meltdown. Their first session in parliament was, appropriately enough, Treasury questions, where they had a chance to air some of their anxieties with the Chancellor and his team. It could have been a much worse session for Kwasi Kwarteng, given the way things have gone recently. But the number of MPs seeking reassurance won’t have left him feeling very relaxed.

Kwarteng told the Commons that his mini-Budget had been ‘really strong’ and that MPs constituents would have been pleased with many of the ‘strong measures that we have introduced.’ The response of the markets, of course, was largely that it was a bit too strong, and so other MPs were quick to ask how the market’s would react to his ‘fiscal plan’, now due at the end of this month.