The new chancellor is reported to have told Treasury staff there was a need to ‘do things differently under fresh leadership’
Good morning. Public national life and the news (not always the same things) are both still dominated by the events taking place to mourn and commemorate Queen Elizabeth, and there is full coverage on our separate live blog. I will be covering some of the political aspects of those developments here, but mostly the blog today will be in “and in other news” territory.
And in other news? Attention is starting to focus on what Liz Truss will announce in the emergency “budget” pencilled in for late next week, as my colleagues Pippa Crerar and Rowena Mason report.
The mood among Treasury staff was described by one insider as “grim” after Kwarteng last week sacked Tom Scholar, the popular and highly experienced permanent secretary, on his first day as chancellor.
Kwarteng, addressing all staff on a conference call, praised Scholar’s record and said the Treasury had been an “excellent finance ministry”, a reference to the department’s longstanding adherence to fiscal discipline. He said Scholar’s departure did not herald more big changes at the top.
