Liz Truss resigns as British prime minister
Embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned after just 44 days in the job, leaving the Conservative party in tatters.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Embattled British prime minister Liz Truss has resigned.
Ms Truss dramatically announced that she would step down as Prime Minister after just 44 days in office.
The under-fire PM made a speech outside Downing Street on Thursday local time confirming the staggering turn of events.
The resignation comes after Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, entered No 10 for a crisis meeting with the prime minister.
“We’ve agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week,” Ms Truss said.
“This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.
“I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen.
“I recognise that given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party,” Ms Truss added.
Ms Truss’s 44 days in office is the shortest tenure of any British prime minister in the country’s history, with the closest being 118 days by George Canning, who died suddenly in 1827.
Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer called for an immediate general election in the aftermath of the resignation, saying the Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern.
“The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people,” he said.
“They do not have a mandate to put the country through yet another experiment; Britain is not their personal fiefdom to run how they wish.
“We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.”
A Tory leadership race will now begin and a new PM will be chosen in the next week.
Ms Truss gave her resignation flanked by husband Hugh O’Leary alongside her, saying the UK had been “held back for too long by low economic growth”.
“I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability,” she said. “Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.”
“Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent,” she added.
She said the UK had been “held back for too long by low economic growth.”
News of Ms Truss’s incoming resignation was met with a rally in the UK currency, up almost a cent, and shares on the FTSE 100 moving higher, and the 30-year gilt yield fell back to 3.8 per cent from highs of 5 per cent.
WHAT SPARKED TRUSS’ DOWNFALL?
Ms Truss’ downfall began just days into her premiership, when the disastrous mini budget was announced.
The $A80 billion tax bonfire sent mortgages soaring and the pound plummeting.
It caused uproar among Tory MPs who questioned why Ms Truss was cutting taxes for the rich as hard up Brits suffer in a crippling cost of living crisis.
Ms Truss tried to save her career by bringing in the more moderate Jeremy Hunt to replace ally Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor.
Mr Hunt tore the mini budget to shreds, a move that calmed down markets.
But the damage had been done and restless MPs began calling for the PM’s head.
Kwasi Kwarteng the ex-Chancellor and architect of the “mini-budget” that ignited the turmoil, has been blamed by MP Michael Fabricant for Ms Truss’s rapid fall from grace.
“If it hadn’t been Kwasi Kwarteng’s grand experiment (the mini-budget), this would not have happened,” he wrote on Twitter.
The straw that broke her premiership came amid farcical scenes in parliament as MPs bristled at what they saw as heavy-handed efforts to whip them into supporting a reversal of the party’s fracking ban.
Many submitted letters to Mr Brady calling for her to be removed, despite party rules forbidding another leadership campaign for 12 months after the ousting of Boris Johnson over the summer.
Conservative Lord Ed Vaizey said the “only way out of this mess is for Liz Truss to stand down and for somebody to be appointed as prime minister by Conservative MPs”.
The end came gradually then suddenly for Ms Truss came after the fallout from her mini-budget, Braverman’s resignation, and then chaotic scenes after a Tory MP rebellion over an important vote at the House of Commons late Wednesday local time.
By the next morning, more than a dozen Conservative MPs had publicly urged Ms Truss to resign, citing the market meltdown during a cost-of-living crisis.
The prime minister’s office initially tried to weather the storm; releasing a statement acknowledging the “difficult day” but vowing to focus less on politics and more on delivering their priorities.
She quit about two hours later.
WHO’LL LEAD BRITAIN NEXT?
Rishi Sunak, who came second in the leadership race he lost to Ms Truss, is the bookie’s favourite to replace the prime minister. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was kicked out in the first round, is said to have already ruled himself out.
Suella Braverman, who spectacularly resigned as home secretary on Wednesday in a letter highly critical of Truss, and Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, are seen as vying for position in the next race.
There is even speculation that Boris Johnson could make a return to the leadership, months after being ousted.
Newly installed Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has reportedly ruled himself out of the running to take over Britain’s top job.
WORLD LEADERS REACT
Meanwhile, world leaders expressed hopes for a quick return to normal following the resignation of Ms Truss, even as Russia offered a scathing assessment of her brief tenure.
Asked whether Ms Truss did the right thing, US president Joe Biden said: “Well, that’s for her to decide. But look, she was a great partner on Russia and Ukraine.
“And the British are going to solve their problem … She was a good partner.”
A White House statement later read: “The United States and the United Kingdom are strong allies and enduring friends — and that fact will never change.
“I thank prime minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of issues including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.
“We will continue our close co-operation with the UK government as we work together to meet the global challenges our nations face.”
French president Emmanuel Macron said it was important at a time of international tensions that political stability was restored in the UK.
He said his dealings with Ms Truss – who once said the jury was out on whether Mr Macron was friend or foe – had been “very constructive”.
“France, as a friend of the British people, wishes for stability,” he said.
“In this context of war and tensions over the energy crisis, it is important that Great Britain sets out again on the path of political stability and that’s all I wish for.
“On a personal level, I am always sad to see a colleague leave and I hope that stability will come back.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry savaged Ms Truss, calling her a disgrace of a leader who would be remembered for her “catastrophic illiteracy”.
“Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a social media post. Former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev tweeted: “Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Liz Truss resigns as British prime minister
Chaos, confusion in Trump ‘assassination’
A man armed with guns and fake passes has been arrested near a Trump rally, stopping what police say was “probably” an assassination attempt.
‘Swarm of drones’: Horror strike on Israel
Over 60 people have been injured after Hezbollah launched a ‘swarm of drones’ on Israel.