UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Resigns
After only 44 days in office, Liz Truss announced on Thursday, October 20th that she would resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Truss had barely been in office when she, along with her selected Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, announced a budget that was condemned in UK political circles and led to huge losses on the financial markets.
While she fired Kwarteng and reversed their initial budget in an effort to save her political career, the pressure from the media and her own political party forced her to resign. Truss announced her resignation in front of 10 Downing Street, the official prime minister’s office and residence.
“I recognize 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,” she said.
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“This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We’ve agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week. This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.”
She continued, “I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen. Thank you.”
Truss will hold the unenviable record of becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the UK. After Boris Johnson stepped down in July, she won the leadership of the Conservative Party. Within less than two months of assuming the highest political office in her country, Truss eventually lost support within her party, with her own Conservative colleagues calling for her to step down. At the moment, it looks as though the United Kingdom might have three Prime Ministers in the span of one year.
