Losing a chancellor during a financial crisis is never going to be a great political positive. It doesn’t make for the right kind of headlines. It looks like the result of incompetence (it is, in this case). The pathetic figure slung out of the Treasury on his ear is the outward and human symbol of a massive political failure.
It makes things worse for a prime minister, because their judgement in appointing the chancellor in the first place is evidently at fault, and because the economy is a joint enterprise. A prime minister forced to sack their chancellor is just as tainted as the unfortunate departing minister.
All that said, parting ways can be the right thing to do. A couple of examples show how replacing the chancellor can be the painful beginning of a political and economic recovery. Both are related to a sharp currency crisis.
