Did estate agents swear at Kwasi Kwarteng?

There is a rumour going round that someone in an estate agent made it clear to Kwasi Kwarteng exactly what she thought of him - but it is proving hard to confirm.

Earlier this week, the Guardian reported that before the former chancellor was sacked, he walked around his constituency to sense the mood.

They report that he waved through the window of an estate agent when a woman inside got up, seemingly to greet him. But then they say she is said to have come to the window where she made an obscene gesture and told the chancellor he was a disgrace, according to sources in his constituency office speaking to the publication.

Awkward. It's unclear where the claim emerged from, as the publication later decided to ring up people from the three estate agents on Shepperton High Street in his Surrey constituency a few days later. They found that no-one claimed responsibility for the alleged event, despite being cross about his actions regarding the mini-budget.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“He obviously made a right mess of it,” Mike Bazely, the director of Bazely & Co estate agents he founded in 2006, told the publication. “Personally, I am glad he’s out – I just don’t think he was up to it.”

It comes after Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor after just 38 days in the role. The new chancellor Jeremy Hunt then reversed almost everything Kwarteng had set out in his incredibly unpopular mini-budget that tanked the pound and spooked the markets.

We can think of a couple of reasons why someone would want to make an "obscene gesture" at Kwarteng, then.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.