How Kwasi Kwarteng, a former UK chancellor, was paid £10,000 per day to work for a fictitious Korean company
Kwasi Kwarteng, a Ghanaian-born former UK chancellor, and four other British Conservative Party MPs were the targets of what appears to have been a duping experiment by the campaign organization Leading by Donkeys.
The interests of a fictitious South Korean company were promoted, allegedly, by Kwasi Kwarteng and the other Tory MPs in exchange for £10,000 per day of labor.
At his parliamentary office, the former UK chancellor met investigators posing as employees of the fake Koran company and in principle agreed to be paid the day rate of £10,000.
Led by Donkeys uploaded a video of the meeting, which was more akin to a job interview, in which Kwarteng bragged about his skills and contacts as evidence that he was the best candidate.
The investigator told the former chancellor they are willing to pay him between £8,000 and £12,000 per day for his involvement, so he boosted his rate from the initial £10,000 per month to £10,000 per day.
“I served as chancellor before becoming an energy minister for three years. I have a lot of experience in the UK, you know,” he continued.
He further stated that his work as an MP will not interfere with his responsibilities in his new position with the South Korean corporation.
Even further, Kwasi Kwarteng claimed that he could enlist the assistance of Boris Johnson, a former British prime minister whom he referred to as “a terrific campaigner.”
Anthony Barnett, the lead investigative journalist for the story, claimed that the paper was an experiment to see if MPs would find time to work another job, “furthering the interest of foreign firms,” in the midst of the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.
Additionally, he said that while it is legal for MPs in the UK to accept as many jobs as they like and to demand whatever salary they want, many people have been resisting this freedom.
Recall that in October 2022, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng, who served as the country’s first black finance minister.
He was fired in 2022 over the UK’s mini-budget, which reportedly created market volatility and a rebellion among Tory MPs in the UK, according to a Reuters article attributing the event to the UK Times newspaper.
Steven Swinford, Political Editor of The Times, tweeted, “I’m told Kwasi Kwarteng is being fired as Chancellor as Liz Truss prepares to rescind the mini-Budget.”
Below is a video of Kwasi Kwarteng’s fictitious job interview: