Liz Truss sacked her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday and replaced him with the former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.

However, she was pressed on whether she can now credibly stay on as Prime Minister when she held a news conference immediately afterwards at 10 Downing Street.

Kwarteng, who only on Thursday insisted he “wasn’t going anywhere”, flew back a day early from an IMF meeting in Washington and went immediately into a crisis meeting with the Prime Minister.

Truss announced: “I met the former chancellor earlier today. I was incredibly sorry to lose him. He is a great friend. And he shares my vision to set this country on the path to growth. Today, I have asked Jeremy Hunt to become the new chancellor. He’s one of the most experienced and widely respected government ministers and parliamentarians.”

She is also doing a U-turn by adopting one of Rishi Sunak’s policies, which she had attacked during the leadership contest.

In his March budget, the former chancellor said the tax would climb from 19 per cent to 25 per cent in April 2023.

Truss now said: “We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline. I have therefore decided to keep the increase in corporation tax that was planned by the previous government. This will raise £18 billion per year.”

Truss did not “lose” her chancellor. She sacked him, as Kwarteng made clear in his letter addressed formally as “Dear Prime Minister”.

“You have asked me to stand aside as your chancellor,” he began. “I have accepted.” Kwarteng, who lasted only 38 days in office, said: “We have been colleagues and friends for many years. In that time, I have seen your dedication and determination. I believe your vision is the right one. It has been an honour to serve as your first chancellor. Your success is this country’s success and I wish you well.”

Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which was 100 per cent Truss’s mini-budget with unfunded tax cuts, spooked the market — just as Rishi had warned it would do — sent mortgage rates soaring, threatened the viability of pension funds, caused the pound to plummet in value against the dollar, and, in the opinion of many analysts, “crashed the economy”.

In her reply to “Kwasi”, Truss said: “Thank you for your letter. As a long-standing friend and colleague, I am deeply sorry to lose you from the government.” After throwing him under a bus to save her own skin (as the saying goes), Truss added: “I deeply respect the decision you have taken today. You have put the national interest first.

“Thank you for your service to this country and your huge friendship and support. I have no doubt you will continue to make a major contribution to public life in the years ahead.”

Truss’s news conference, which included an opening statement, lasted less than nine minutes.

She cut it short because all the questions challenged her decision to stay on when she had sacked her chancellor for carrying out her policies.

For the first question, she picked out Ben Riley-Smith, political editor of the Daily Telegraph, which, along with the Daily Mail, had been her main cheerleaders during the leadership contest.

His question was: “Thank you, Prime Minister, clearly a difficult Can you explain to the public why you think you should remain as Prime Minister given you junked a key tax cut which led you to be elected and got rid of your chancellor?”

The second question was from Harry Cole, political editor of the Sun, which had also backed her: “You’re the one that wanted to cut the 45p (in the £ tax) rate, you stood on a platform to win the leadership of the Conservative party on a platform to cut corporation tax. You and the chancellor —the ex-chancellor — designed this budget together ‘in lockstep’, we’re told, at times in secret, the two of you. He has to go because of the fallout from it. How come you get to stay?”

As she turned swiftly and walked out, she was followed by cries of: “Aren’t you going to say sorry, Prime Minister?”