After just 45 days in office, Liz Truss has resigned leaving the Tory party without a leader, once again.
Truss Resigns
In a short nationally televised address this afternoon, Truss set out her resignation saying “I cannot deliver the mandate by which I was elected by the Conservative Party.” Despite delivering on “energy bills” and “cutting national insurance”, Truss was unable to bring the UK out of the economic crisis.
In her address, Truss says “there will be a leadership election to be completed in the next week”. Who will be running is still unclear although there are rumors of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt being in the race. Some even believe Boris Johnson might come back for another round.
Truss makes history today as the shortest-serving Prime Minister in UK history, spending only 45 days in office. Assuming the role on the 6th of September, Truss faced a rebellion of Tory MPs almost forcing her to quit.
“I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party”
Liz Truss
Chaos in Westminster
Over the last week, Westminster has been turbulent. Due to a series of U-turns in economic policy, many of the Conservative Party were losing hope and patience.
The Prime Minister sacked chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday and appointed Jeremy Hunt to try and stabilize the economy. The instability didn’t stop there. Suella Braverman quit as home secretary last night.
Yesterday, Wednesday the 19th of October, Liz Truss made it very clear she was a “fighter, not a quitter”. Just a day on from these Prime Ministers’ questions, she’s gone.
Party hopefuls will need to secure the support of 100 MPs to enter the election race. There are currently 357 Tory MPs meaning 3 candidates can enter the race.
Labour leader Kier Starmer, along with many others, call for an immediate general election. Speaking to BBC, Starmer repeated what a “chaos” the government was in. The Tory party has until 2024 before they have to technically call an election and expets believe they will use all the time they can to try and gain support.
“The British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos“
Kier Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party
With a grin on her face, Truss delivered her last line: “I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen”. Just like that, it was done. The United Kingdom faces a new Prime Minister once again with the big question looming of how long the Tory party can continue in this mess. It is unclear who the baton will be handed over to, but we can guarantee it will not be a smooth
Hello! I am a third year undergraduate student at the University of York studying English Literature. I am currently editor of my student publication York Vision and I have been working with Trill since 2022.
