It has been reported that an estate agent made it clear to Kwasi Kwarteng exactly what she thought of him by making an “obscene gesture” at the now former chancellor through the window, in an apparent act of disapproval at the way his mini-Budget adversely affected the UK economy.

Someone in an estate agent in the ex-chancellor’s constituency reportedly made a rude gesture at the Tory MP, following his unpopular mini-Budget announcement.

According to The Guardian, the former chancellor was walking around his constituency in Surrey a few days ago when it is reported that he waved through the window of an estate agent when a woman inside got up, seemingly to greet him, but rather chose to chose to make an obscene gesture and told the chancellor he was a disgrace. This is according to sources in his constituency office speaking to the publication.

The incident is alleged to have occurred on Shepperton High Street, but when quizzed by reporters, none of the estate agents working in the three branches located on that street would admit that someone in their office was responsible for the alleged gesture towards their local MP.

However, all agents interviewed said they were pleased Kwarteng had been sacked as chancellor after his mini-budget sent interest rates soaring, raised mortgage costs for prospective buyers and threw the housing market – and wider economy – into turmoil.

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

Kwarteng, 47, has been MP for Spelthorne, which stretches from the perimeter of Heathrow airport in the north to the edge of Walton-on-Thames in the south, since 2010. At the last general election in 2015 he had a majority of more than 14,000.

That previously safe seat is now looking precarious, with an opinion poll over the weekend suggesting that Kwarteng’s seat is now on a knife-edge, with 37% support for the Conservatives compared with 36% for Labour.

Last Friday, after only 38 days, Kwarteng’s tenure as chancellor came to an abrupt halt when he was replaced by the former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Earlier this week Hunt reversed almost all the tax cuts that Kwarteng had announced only three weeks earlier in his mini-budget in a bid to appease the financial markets.

While Bazely is glad that Kwarteng was on Friday replaced as chancellor by Hunt he is adamant that none of his staff were responsible for the alleged gesture.

“I wasn’t in the office, and I can assure you no one here would do that,” Bazely told the press. “I wouldn’t say people are that angry; we’re just so disappointed. It was great news for the area when he was appointed chancellor but obviously it hasn’t worked out.”

Bazely’s colleague Laura Grace was in the office and says she saw Kwarteng surrounded by “a big group of security guards as people tried to ask him questions”.

Bazely reports that inquiries from new buyers have slowed in recent weeks as they reassess their financial situation but those with mortgage deals agreed before interest rates rose were continuing to press ahead with purchases.

“Some people think prices are going to start falling as people can’t afford the mortgages they could before,” he said. “But Shepperton is a small place, and our problem has been there is not enough stock for buyers.”

Further up the street, at the fellow independent estate agent Curchods, Caitlin Orsman says she was unaware that Kwarteng had visited and that while rising interest rates had already hit sales “some people are still buying”.

Orsman told the press that she does not really have an opinion on Kwarteng but she is glad that [Jeremy] Hunt has taken charge of the treasury.

She added: “You’re missing most of the opinionated people not being in the office today – I know they would say a lot more.”

At the final estate agent office on the high street, a branch of the Haart chain, the employees say they have been told not to speak to the media. However, one employee can’t help himself.

He told the press: “I can’t tell you how glad I am that he has finally gone.

“It has been a disaster for the country, and a disaster for us. Interest rates are soaring, mortgages are being pulled, people aren’t going to buy houses. People are too scared.”