Drinking champagne with Tory donors after announcing tax bonanza for bankers was mistake, Kwasi Kwarteng admits

QUAFFING champagne with Tory donors just hours after announcing a tax slash for bankers and the rich was probably a mistake, the Chancellor admitted yesterday.

Kwasi Kwarteng said he "gets how it looks" after it emerged he had a drinks party with financiers and hedge fund chiefs on the day of the mini-budget.

And he added that "with hindsight it probably wasn't the best day to go" to the Tory party event.

But he was only there for 15 minutes and the event had been in the diary for "a few weeks", he said.

He told LBC Radio: "I spent, I think, quarter of an hour there, or maybe a bit longer.

"It was a party event, we have party events all the time.

"I think it was a difficult call and I totally get how it looks.

"I just feel that it was something that I was signed up to do and I had to do."

He acknowledged that "with hindsight it probably wasn't the best day to go".