After a brief, terrible tenure as British PM, Liz Truss resigns.

ENGLAND — After only six weeks in office, British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation on Thursday. This was the result of a terrible and quickly abandoned economic plan that caused the pound to crash and her government to fall apart.

Truss will be remembered as one of the most disastrous prime ministers in British history after being formally chosen by Queen Elizabeth II on September 6, only days before the monarch’s passing.

George Canning, the previous record holder, served for 119 days at the beginning of the 19th century; Truss announced her retirement after 44 days.

The future leader of the governing Conservative Party, who will automatically become the next prime minister, will be chosen in the coming week following the conclusion of the current leadership election. Elections across the country were demanded right away by the opposing Labour Party.

During the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session on Wednesday, Truss reassured Parliament that she was a “fighter, not a quitter.”
But becoming the party’s leader requires respect and credibility. Truss quit the following day after having less and less of both.

She gave a brief, unrepentant address Thursday outside No. 10 Downing Street, saying, “I know that given the reality, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”

I have consequently informed His Majesty the King that I am stepping down as Conservative Party leader.
I will continue to serve as prime minister until a replacement is chosen, she said at the conclusion of her remarks.
The focus has already shifted to the upcoming events.

Even her predecessor, Boris Johnson, is being urged to make a dramatic comeback, barely months after quitting due to pressure from his own party and the public following a string of scandals.

One favorite to succeed her is Rishi Sunak, Johnson’s former finance minister who exposed the foolishness of Truss’ economic policies. In the competition to succeed Johnson, he finished second to Truss. Penny Mordaunt, a seasoned individual who earlier this week stepped in for Truss in Parliament and assured MPs the prime minister was not hiding under a desk, is also supported by the party.

There might be more uncertainty in the days to come, though, without a clear replacement in the wings.

According to Sir Graham Brady, the head of the secretive 1922 Committee, which represents “backbench” lawmakers who are not employed by the government and establishes the guidelines for the party’s leadership elections, candidates to succeed Truss will need at least 100 nominations from Conservative MPs.

Jake Berry, the chairman of the Conservative Party, announced that if two candidates advanced through the legislative process, party members would be able to cast their votes online.

Truss’ resignation comes after a night of noteworthy events in Parliament, where lawmakers criticized the use of coercive measures by the government that apparently moved several of their colleagues to tears and sparked rising calls for her resignation from inside her own party.

Graham Brady, a senior Conservative MP who monitors leadership challenges, and she huddled inside No. 10 Downing Street. Brady may be in the best position of anybody to assess a leader’s popularity within the party, and by Thursday morning, the situation was crystal evident.

Truss, 47, had pledged to make a dramatic change in Britain’s economic fortunes, transforming it into a low-tax, high-growth nation that will realize its full potential after Brexit.

‘Trussonomics’ would become her political swan song because it was a complete disaster in practice.

Kwasi Kwarteng, her first finance minister, announced unfunded tax cuts totaling $48 billion, sending the government’s borrowing costs spiraling and resulting in an emergency intervention by the Bank of England and a censure from the International Monetary Fund.

Kwarteng was quickly dismissed, and Jeremy Hunt, who took over, immediately started to reverse almost all of the divisive measures. Britain is still dealing with the effects of this scheme, including record inflation and elevated mortgage rates, despite the U-turn.

While in office, Truss developed a reputation as a laughingstock after being disparagingly described in a tabloid newspaper stunt to a head of wilting lettuce. According to pollsters at YouGov, her personal approval rating dropped to minus 70, making her the least popular party leader in British history. In the polls, the Labour Party, which is center-left, skyrocketed.

Soon after Truss’ resignation, its leader, Keir Starmer, called for a general election in a statement.
“This never-ending cycle of upheaval is not what the British people deserve,” he said.
Truss failed to defeat herself in a national election.

By default, she was elected prime minister after winning the Conservative leadership contest: The leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons is given the opportunity to form the government under the unwritten Constitution of Britain.

The Conservatives, sometimes known as the Tories, will now start looking for their sixth leader in six years, a symptom of the turbulent political climate in Britain since the 2016 EU referendum.

Some Conservatives have issued a warning against picking their new leader without consulting the majority of British citizens.

Most past prime ministers opt to either retire, which calls for a by-election, or to remain a backbencher, a member of Parliament who represents their constituency but holds no official position.

It will be interesting to see if she stays to represent her electorate in southwest Norfolk in the east of England or goes to do something altogether different.

Within minutes of her resignation, feedback started pouring in from all across the world.
The United States and Great Britain are close allies, and that fact won’t alter, according to President Joe Biden in a statement.

In his remarks, he stated, “I appreciate Prime Minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of topics, including holding Russia accountable for its attack against Ukraine.”

As we work together to address the global difficulties our nations confront, “we will continue our strong engagement with the U.K. government,” he added.
Biden referred to Truss’ abandoned tax cut plan as a “mistake” last week.

According to Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Truss will be remembered for her “catastrophic illiteracy,” adding that Britain has never had such a shame of a leader.

Truss has been a fierce opponent of Vladimir Putin and his conflict in Ukraine. That stance will probably be maintained by any successor.

French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for Britain to establish “stability as quickly as possible” upon arriving at an E.U. conference in Brussels, according to Reuters.

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