From Reuters:
“Liz Truss resigns after six
weeks as UK prime minister”
Liz Truss said on Thursday she
would resign as British prime minister, brought down just six weeks into the
job by an economic programme that shattered investor confidence and enraged
much of her Conservative Party. Speaking outside the door of her Number 10
Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she had lost the faith of her party
and said she would step down next week, becoming the shortest-serving prime
minister in British history. Truss, who had said on Wednesday she was a
"fighter and not a quitter", told the mass of journalists gathered in
Downing Street that she realised she could no longer deliver on the promises
that won her the Conservative leadership. "I have therefore spoken to His
Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the
Conservative Party," said Truss, who was supported only by her husband
with her aides and loyal ministers noticeably absent.
Reactions to UK PM Liz Truss's
resignation A new leadership election will be completed by next Friday,
Oct. 28. Those expected to run include former finance minister Rishi Sunak and
Penny Mordaunt, a former defence minister. Jeremy Hunt, the man brought in to
rescue the public finances, has ruled himself out. Party members and
Conservative lawmakers are expected to be given a say in the vote. A poll
earlier this week showed that most members wanted former prime minister Boris
Johnson - who was ousted from Downing Street in July - to return. Britain
is not scheduled to hold a national election for another two years. Betting
odds put Sunak as the favourite, ahead of Mordaunt and Johnson.
Appointed on Sept. 6, Truss was
forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng,
and abandon almost all her economic programme after their plans for vast
unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Approval ratings for her
and the Conservative Party collapsed. On Wednesday she lost the second
of the government's four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to
defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over
policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster. New finance
minister Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts
to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation as the
economy heads into recession and inflation runs at a 40-year high. He is
due to deliver a new budget on Oct. 31. The new prime minister will be selected
on Friday, Oct. 28. In a very short speech, Truss - whose brief term as
premier beat the record of George Canning, who had held the role for 119 days
when he died in 1827 - said she had come into office as the country faced great
uncertainty. "I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot
deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,"
Truss said.
^ I hope whomever is the next
Prime Minister will continue to help Ukraine and ease things inside the United
Kingdom. ^
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