DANIEL LEAL/Getty Images
British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation in writing during a news appearance outside Downing Street after only 44 days in office. Officially the prime minister with the shortest tenure in UK history, the leader of the Conservative Party lost the support of the majority of her own party shortly after her “mini-budget” collapsed the markets and two important ministers left their posts.
Truss spoke briefly on her resignation outside of Number 10. “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills. Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent. And our country has been held back for too long by low economic growth. I was elected by the Conservative party with a mandate to change this. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance. And we set out a vision for a low tax/high growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit. I recognise though, 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.”
A leadership election “to be completed within the next week” will determine Truss’ replacement as prime minister, she added. While Suella Braverman, whose abrupt departure as home secretary sparked Truss’s collapse, is rumoured to be preparing to run as the far-right candidate, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are also anticipated to enter the race as “unity” candidates.
Keir Starmer, speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, released a statement calling for a general election in light of the upheaval. “After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. In the last few years, the Tories have set record-high taxation, trashed our institutions and created a cost-of-living crisis. Now, they have crashed the economy so badly that people are facing £500 a month extra on their mortgages. The damage they have done will take years to fix.”
Carla Denyer, the co-leader of the Green Party, has emphasized that the Tory party has now left the country without “a credible government” after calling Truss’s appointment a calamity for the UK, and the environment.
