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Kwasi Kwarteng was dramatically sacked by Liz Truss today as she prepares to make a monster U-turn on the disastrous mini-Budget in a bid to save her premiership.

The Chancellor was given his marching orders after being hauled back to Downing Street from a US summit, with the PM facing a potentially terminal Tory rebellion.

In a letter, Mr Kwarteng confirmed he had been 'asked to stand aside' rather than quitting - and suggested he still believes that the tax-cuts should go ahead.  

Ms Truss is due to front a make-or-break press conference within hours to abandon a major strand of her radical economic reforms just weeks after taking power. She will also want to unveil a new Chancellor, with former leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt being tipped for a shock return as a 'safe pair of hands'.

The press call had been promised at 2pm, but now looks likely to slip.  

Ms Truss is widely tipped to bow to political and economic pressure to increase corporation tax, having previously cancelled plans to increase it by 6p in the pound.

But she is due to face the cameras alone without long-term ally Mr Kwarteng by her side after tearing up another central strand of his tax-cutting mini-Budget for growth. 

His departure would make him the second shortest-serving chancellor in modern British politics, behind Iain Macleod, whose career was ended by his death after 30 days in office in 1970.

Since 2019, the UK has had four chancellors, including Nadhim Zahawi who served the third shortest tenure with 62 days during a short-lived reshuffle under Boris Johnson, and Sajid Javid who served 204 days - the fourth shortest tenure on record. 

Truss made scrapping plans to up the corporation tax rate from 19 per cent to 25 per cent - at a cost of £18billion - a central part of her leadership campaign and it was unveiled as a policy three weeks ago as a major growth lever.

But she is expected to announce the rate will go up next year after all, after weeks of economic and political turmoil in Westminster that now threaten her position.

Mutinous Conservative MPs have given the PM 17 days to save her job, with claims that Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, both failed leadership challengers in the summer, are being lined up to replace her.

Tory whips warned she could face a leadership challenge if Kwasi Kwarteng's economic statement on October 31 fails to end the turbulence in the financial markets. 

It has been suggested they could be installed in a 'coronation' if no one else runs to be leader, avoiding the need to  consult party members who overwhelmingly backed Ms Truss to replace Boris Johnson.