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LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss She stepped down on Thursday after a historically short tenure, disrupted by financial markets and a revolt in her political party over economic policies that eroded her power.
After just 45 days in office, Truce became the third Conservative prime minister to be ousted in as many years, and will go down as the shortest-serving leader in British history. Her resignation widens the instability that has rocked Britain since it left the European Union and confused its leadership as the country grapples with a spending crisis and recession..
“I cannot deliver on the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss, 47, said outside his 10 Downing Street office..
Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief, but the now-divided ruling party must quickly look for a leader who can unite its warring factions. Truss said she would remain in office until a replacement was chosen, which the Conservative Party said it would do by the end of next week, an extremely fast timeline for choosing the next leader of one of the world’s largest economies.
Possible contenders include: former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss in the last leadership contest; House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt; Defense Secretary Ben Wallace; and Boris JohnsonThe former prime minister was ousted in July over a series of ethics scandals.
The low-tax, low-regulation economic policies that got Truus elected by his party proved disastrous in the real world at a time of rising inflation and weak growth.
Her September 23 economic plan Investors worried that included tax cuts Britain could not afford. It drove down the value of the pound and drove up the cost of mortgages, causing financial pain for people and businesses already struggling from an economy that hasn’t recovered from the pain of the pandemic.
That financial mess led to the replacement of the Trust’s treasury chiefMultiple policy U-turns and a breakdown in discipline within the ruling Conservative Party.
Truce resigned a day after vowing to stay in power, saying she “belongs to the military and is not a quitter.” But it did not last long after a senior minister quit his government Amid criticism and the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday descended into chaos and acrimony.
“It’s time for the prime minister to go,” said Conservative lawmaker Miriam Cates, echoing the sentiments of many others.
Before Truce, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister was George Canning, who died in 1827 after 119 days in office.
The pound rose about 1% to around $1.13 on Thursday after Truss’ resignation.
It is unclear where the Conservative Party will go from here. Its numerous factions — from hard-right Brexiters to centrist “One Nation” Tories — are at each other’s throats.
“No one has a route plan. It’s a hand-to-hand fight on a daily basis,” Conservative lawmaker Simon Hoare told the BBC before Truss resigned on Thursday.
Newspapers generally supporting the Conservatives were vitriolic. An editorial in Thursday’s Daily Mail headlined: “The wheels have come off the Tory clown car.”
Truss’ departure on Thursday brought joy to the tabloid Daily Star, which last week set up a livestream showing a photo of the prime minister next to Lettice’s head to see what would last.
“This lettuce outlasted Liz Truss!” It was announced on Thursday.
While many Britons joined the world in laughing at the Lettice joke, Bronwyn Maddox, director of international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said “There is no question that the UK’s position in the world has been greatly damaged by this episode and by the events surrounding it. Ministers’ Gate.
She said Truss’ successor “needs to have policies based on economic stability, but also need to include a resolution of relations with Europe; much of the turmoil represents the bitter aftermath of Brexit.”
The Conservative Party said nominations for a new leader will close on Monday. Candidates need the signatures of 100 of the 357 Conservative MPs, meaning a maximum of three constituencies. Lawmakers will choose one of them, and ask the party’s 172,000 members to decide between the two finalists in an online vote. A new leader is to be selected by October 28.
Truss’s resignation is the culmination of months of simmering discontent within the Conservative Party, whose poll ratings have plummeted.
Johnson’s government was undone after it was revealed that he had held a series of parties in government buildings when people in Britain were banned from meeting friends and family or visiting dead relatives. The Conservative Party spent the summer choosing to change as the economy worsened amid rising energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Truss served as Johnson’s Secretary of State.
Truce’s successor will become the country’s third prime minister this year. National elections are not due to be called until 2024, but opposition parties have called for one now, saying the government lacks democratic legitimacy.
Opposition Labor Party leader Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of presiding over “total chaos”.
“This is causing huge damage to our economy and the reputation of our country,” he said. “We should have a chance to start anew. We need a general election now.
Truss’ political solution began after she and her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled an economic plan with 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts. The specter of massive borrowing to finance the tax cuts hurt the value of the pound And interest rates on UK government bonds rose. Bank of England Intervention was forced to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk.
Truss soon sacked Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt, canceled almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, slashed her energy subsidies and abandoned her promise to cut public spending. He said the government would need to save billions of pounds and had “a lot of difficult decisions” to make before setting out a medium-term fiscal plan on October 31.
Spoke to the MLAs for the first time on Wednesday after the U-turn, Truce apologized and admitted she had made mistakes, but insisted she would not resign. Within hours, a senior cabinet minister, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, resigned, blasting Truss in her resignation letter, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government.”
For many Conservative lawmakers, Wednesday evening’s vote on fracking for shale gas was the final straw, sparking chaotic scenes in parliament, with party whips accused of using heavy-handed tactics to win votes.
Opposition Labor Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said he had seen “members being physically manhandled … and being bullied.” Conservative officials denied this.
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Follow AP’s coverage of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/liz-truss
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