Liz Truss became the shortest-serving leader in British political history after she resigned Thursday less than two months into the job.
It comes after Tory MPs heaped pressure on Truss to exit No 10. In turn, she insisted she was a “fighter, not a quitter,” despite admitting that “mistakes were made.”
But now, the embattled prime minister – whose rise to power was quickly followed by market turmoil due to the mini-budget fiasco – has tendered her resignation.
There will now be a leadership election to be completed within the next week she said, after speaking to the leader of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, in No 10.
"I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party"
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resignshttps://t.co/O5kO1WJ4tY pic.twitter.com/Gq6FtOGNIP
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 20, 2022
Truss, 47, lasted 44 days in office. Because Britain elects a party, not a specific leader, she will be replaced by another lawmaker from her ruling Conservative Party. The process to replace Truss will take place within the next week.
Questions were quickly raised in Truss’s own party as to whether she had the ability to lead, but she insisted she would lead the Tories into the next general election, despite recent U-turns and sackings leaving her battling to salvage her authority.
Speaking from a lectern in Downing Street on Thursday, Truss said she was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change the situation facing the UK.
“We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance.
“We set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.”
But she said the situation had prevented her from delivering on that mandate.
In the past week, Truss replaced former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng with Jeremy Hunt.
Hunt, tweaked almost all of Truss’ plans – including scrapping her flagship energy policy and reversing plans to scrap a corporation tax increase, as well as the top income tax bracket.
At just 44 days, Truss is the shortest serving prime minister in British history, The second-shortest serving prime minister was George Canning, who died of tuberculosis 119 days into the job.
Following her resignation Sir Keir Starmer has called for an immediate general election, adding that the Conservative Party has shown it can no longer govern after “12 years of failure.”
The Labour leader said: “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. 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.
“The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future. They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future. We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.”
The number of Tory MPs publicly demanding Truss’s resignation doubled on Thursday, taking the total to 15, with a far greater number privately agitating for her exit.
The new prime minister will be in place before the fiscal statement on October 31, Sir Graham Brady said.
