Truss and Kwarteng: counting the cost of chaos - podcast

After delivering a mini-budget that caused financial mayhem, the chancellor backtracked on his headline tax cut - but has the political and economic damage already been done? Heather Stewart reports

On Friday 23 September, the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, got to his feet in the House of Commons to deliver what he called a fiscal event". It was an attempt to present himself to the country and show the financial markets that with the arrival of himself and Liz Truss, Britain was under new management.

The result was spectacular: the pound crashed in value to a record low, Britain's borrowing costs shot up and the bottom nearly fell out of the pension industry. The Bank of England was forced to step in with a rescue plan and even the IMF suggested a rethink was in order.