Croydon South MP Chris Philp sacked as treasury chief after six weeks

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

The MP For Croydon South has lost his job as treasury chief secretary less than six weeks after he was given the job.

Chris Philp has been moved to the cabinet office following the sacking of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. Mr Kwarteng has been replaced by Jeremy Hunt.

Edward Argar takes over from Mr Philp, and the Croydon MP will move into Mr Argar’s previous role as paymaster general and minister for the Cabinet Office.

Mr Philp was appointed to the role in September. At the time he said: “I’ll work with colleagues across Government to deliver good value for UK taxpayers’ hard-earned cash in my new role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.”

He defended Government plans in media interviews in the weeks following the mini budget. This week in the House of Commons he said: “The real risk is in not having a growth plan, the real risk is in having taxes that are too high, the real risk is not investing in infrastructure.”

In a press conference today, Prime Minister Liz Truss said the decision had been made to keep the increase in corporation tax the Government previously said it would drop.

She said: “The way we are delivering our mission right now has to change. We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline.

“I have therefore decided to keep the increase in corporation tax that was planned by the previous Government.”

Pictured top: Chris Philp (Picture: UK Parliament)