Kwarteng was due to return to the UK from the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting on Friday, but hastily made changes.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has cut short his trip to the International Monetary Fund in Washington and will return to the UK earlier than planned, as another major mini-budget U-turn is expected. Mr Kwarteng is scheduled to attend the last day of the meeting at the IMF's annual meeting today. Instead, after a hasty briefing with reporters Thursday night, he announced he would be flying home overnight. A source close to him dismissed the notion that this was a sign of panic.
Pressed as to why there was a need for a last-minute schedule change, a Treasury official insisted it was for talks on a "medium-term fiscal plan". The chancellor had "a very constructive time, talking to Janet Yellen (US Secretary of the Treasury), talking to Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF ... and it puts things in a global context ... a series of global challenges..." according to the treasury official.
The chancellor team is angry at the comparisons made to Greece's 2011 financial crisis when Greece's finance ministers had to rush home from international meetings. "It was completely different. The sovereign debt crisis and on a completely different scale to anything that is happening in our markets," said a Treasury source. Pushing an explanation for the unusual change in scheduling, we were told: "The market has been turbulent and [the chancellor] really wants to be there engaging with colleagues, engaging with ministers..."
Upon his return, the chancellor will likely find a significant portion of his mini-budget pulled back after days of open rebellion among Tory lawmakers and hopes that another major U-turn is imminent. It comes amid speculation at Westminster about Mr Kwarteng's fate, just weeks into the job, if his financial plans are scrapped in the coming days. However, Mr Kwarteng insisted his position was safe, telling the broadcaster: "I'm not going anywhere."
Meanwhile, mounting pressure has been placed on Prime Minister Liz Truss to reassure UK financial markets and save her government, with her key promise to scrap a planned corporate tax hike from 19% to 25% widely seen as a possible casualty. Former interior minister Priti Patel became the latest senior Tory to suggest the government could be forced to roll back again, telling Sky News that "market forces" could make a reversal of corporate tax cuts unavoidable. Downing Street doesn't deny that the policy can be reversed, despite it being one of Ms Truss' key promises.