Liz Truss quits as UK prime minister

Liz Truss has resigned as U.K. prime minister after a chaotic six weeks in office, saying she “cannot deliver the mandate” on which she was elected. In a short but dramatic televised statement outside No. 10 Downing Street Thursday, Truss admitted she could no longer command the support of her party and that a rapid-fire Conservative leadership election will take place over the next week to choose her successor. Truss’ resignation after just 44 days makes her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history — an extraordinary and unwanted tag she could scarcely have imagined when she was selected as leader by Tory members on September 6. But in less than two months in office she triggered a meltdown in financial markets, sacked two of her most senior ministers, was forced into multiple policy U-turns and ultimately lost the backing of her own MPs.

Her successor will have to resolve significant tensions within the ruling Conservative party over the U.K.’s economic approach, while facing a yawning budget deficit which must be filled with tax rises or deep spending cuts. They will also face pressure for a general election, although — given their disastrous poll ratings — the Tories are likely to resist calling one until legally required to do so in 2024 or January 2025. “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss said in her statement Thursday. “I have therefore spoken to his majesty the king to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.” Truss had faced a disastrous start to her premiership after unveiling a radical economic plan of unfunded tax cuts on September 23 which spooked financial markets, sent U.K. borrowing costs soaring and collapsed her party’s poll ratings to a record low. She attempted to steady her faltering administration last week by sacking her friend and chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and replacing him with a center-ground choice, her former leadership rival Jeremy Hunt. He immediately junked her entire economic program in an effort to calm the markets and bring down Britain’s borrowing costs.