The new chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured) has sacked Sir Tom Scholar, the long-standing permanent secretary to the Treasury, as he continues his efforts to remodel the government's finance ministry.
On Thursday (8 September), the Treasury released a brief announcement that said: "The chancellor has asked the cabinet secretary to begin the recruitment process for a new permanent secretary to the Treasury to succeed Tom Scholar."
Scholar would be leaving with immediate effect. Beth Russell, the director general of tax and welfare, and Cat Little, the director general of public spending, will lead the department as acting permanent secretaries until a replacement is found.
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Kwarteng said: "Tom has been a dedicated and exceptional civil servant and I thank him for his exemplary service to the government and the country for the past 30 years."
During the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Kwarteng and now prime minister Liz Truss heavily criticised the Treasury. Truss vowed to challenge the ministry's "economic orthodoxy" which she attributes to Britain's sluggish economic growth.
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In 2016, Scholar took over from former permanent secretary to the Treasury Nicholas Macpherson, who had spent over 11 years in the job and worked under three chancellors.
Macpherson tweeted on Thursday: "Tom Scholar is the best civil servant of his generation. Sacking him makes no sense. His experience would have been invaluable in the coming months as government policy places massive upward pressure on the cost of funding."
