A day is a long time in politics. Just this morning, a No. 10 source told the BBC the Prime Minister believed Kwasi Kwarteng was doing ‘an excellent job’ as chancellor and the pair were ‘in lockstep.’ Only just a few hours on, Liz Truss has sacked her close ally and friend in a bid to salvage her premiership. Now, Truss has appointed Jeremy Hunt to replace Kwarteng. It’s not even 2 p.m.

As soon as rumours started to circulate that Hunt was the preferred pick, there were raised eyebrows among Tory MPs. Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid both backed Truss in the leadership contest and were therefore seen as more obvious choices. Hunt also has no Treasury experience which raises questions about whether the markets will react in the positive way No. 10 hopes. What’s more, Hunt is a controversial pick with Boris Johnson supporters – who take issue with him dating back to the 2019 leadership contest where Hunt made the final two against Johnson.

So, why has Truss picked Hunt? First off, as a Rishi Sunak backer in the leadership contest, it shows that Truss is reaching across the party. Her decision to appoint loyalists to her cabinet landed badly. The view in Downing Street is that Hunt is ultimately a low-tax Tory – who campaigned on this in the leadership election. Hunt even argued for corporation tax to be slashed to 15 per cent (which raises questions about the credibility of this government’s rumoured plan to cancel the tax cut). Secondly, he backs an increase in defence spending – which was a key pledge by Truss in the leadership election. It suggests that Truss is trying to salvage some of her campaign pledges even if other significant policy U-turns are coming. It remains to be seen whether Hunt now works to support Truss’s agenda from No. 11 in the way Kwarteng tried to do – or whether he finds an agenda of his own.