U.K. Prime Minister

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned. She has bowed to the inevitable after a tumultuous term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial ...

He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk. The plan’s 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts sparked turmoil on financial markets, hammering the value of the pound and increasing the cost of U.K. “It’s time for the prime minister to go,” lawmaker Miriam Cates said. We need a general election now.” The prime minister’s spokesman had said Truss intended to remain in office. On Monday Kwarteng’s replacement, Hunt, scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts. A growing number of lawmakers had called for Truss to resign after weeks of turmoil sparked by her economic plan. He said Truss had “about 12 hours” to turn the situation around. It’s all sort of hand-to-hand fighting on a day-to-day basis,” he told the BBC on Thursday. In a major blow, Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned Wednesday after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. With Conservatives holding a large parliamentary majority, an opposition call for a fracking ban was easily defeated.

Truss is the fourth prime minister to resign since the Brexit vote of 2016. That's the fastest turnover in a century. No. 10 Downing Street has effectively ...

[Patrick Dunleavy](https://www.lse.ac.uk/government/people/emeritus-academic-staff/patrick-dunleavy), emeritus professor of political science and public policy at the London School of Economics, says flaws in the U.K.'s system of government and the way the Conservative Party chooses its leaders have also contributed to the ongoing turmoil. "It's a fantasy that many Brits are willing to believe, that because of our supposedly glorious past, we're also entitled to an equally glorious present or future," says Bale, whose new book, The Conservative Party After Brexit, comes out in March. Truss replaced Johnson in September, promising to kick-start the economy with tax cuts for corporations and the rich without reducing public spending. Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, says one reason Tory prime ministers such as Johnson and Truss have flamed out is because they promised the public things they can't deliver. In another major miscalculation, she called a snap election in 2017, only to lose her party's control of the House of Commons. His government's slow response to COVID led to more than 200,000 deaths — the highest toll in Europe — and drew heavy criticism. The party then turned to Johnson, the charismatic if deeply flawed showman who had a track record of winning elections. While Johnson's government ruled out social gatherings to limit the spread of Covid, government staff held parties. Cameron hoped the vote in 2016 would end a civil war inside his own Conservative Party on Britain's relationship with Europe and keep the party in power. Johnson led the party to a landslide victory in 2019. That's the fastest turnover in a century. What's the matter with Britain?

What she's saying: Truss said she recognized that she could not "deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party," and that the election to ...

- No election is due for two years, but many Conservatives are already expecting to lose power for the first time since 2010, possibly in a landslide. [disastrous weeks in office](https://www.axios.com/2022/10/19/truss-absolute-disgrace-conservatives-resign), during which her tax plan panicked the markets and her own party turned on her. People think she's not up to the job," says James Johnson, whose firm JL Partners has been conducting focus groups on Truss. In fact, she announced the tax cuts alongside massively expensive energy subsidies. - "There was anger toward Boris Johnson. - That's a remarkably short timetable for Conservative members of Parliament to pick their fifth prime minister since the 2016 Brexit referendum left the party deeply divided. That episode seemed to sum up Truss' short tenure. - "This whole affair is inexcusable. It's unclear if Johnson would be able to get enough parliamentary colleagues to support him. [finished second to Truss](https://www.axios.com/2022/09/05/liz-truss-wins-uk-next-prime-minister)in the leadership race but correctly warned of the economic dangers of her tax cut plans. [Times](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liz-truss-latest-news-resign-tory-mp-westminster-follow-live-gf7g23fxm)of London and Daily [Telegraph](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/20/liz-truss-news-resign-pm-conservative-party-general-election/)both report that Truss' predecessor, Boris Johnson, is expected to throw his hat in the ring just three months after [resigning over a series of scandals](https://www.axios.com/2022/07/07/why-boris-johnson-resigned-prime-minister). She'll be the [shortest-serving prime minister in history](https://www.axios.com/2022/10/20/shortest-prime-ministers-term-uk).

Truss faced a fast-mounting rebellion just weeks into her tenure, with a senior member of her own party declaring he'd "had enough of talentless people."

Members of the opposition Labour party have been demanding a new general election for weeks, eager to capitalize on the chaos gripping their opponents and take over the British government for the first time in more than a decade. "The public are entitled to have their say, and that's why there should be a general election." It would have put a lot of MPs in the position of being forced to support fracking despite their opposition to the controversial practice. I hope it was worth it for the ministerial red box, I hope it was worth it to sit round the cabinet table. On Thursday, Truss said she would remain as prime minister until the members of her party choose a new leader. One Conservative MP was quoted anonymously by multiple British news outlets as deriding the debacle as "the most bullying, screaming and shouting" they had ever seen, while another was heard saying, "I am f****** furious and I don't give a f*** any more." Support for the premiere collapsed spectacularly not even two months into her tenure, with a final straw seeming to be a parliamentary vote Wednesday evening that descended into total chaos, with members of her Conservative party shouting and swearing at each other, and some even claiming they had been physically manhandled. The deadline for the next general election to take place is January 2025, and with Conservatives polling at historic lows against the opposition Labour party, they would be extremely reluctant to call one soon. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative party," Truss said outside the prime minister's official residence at Number 10 Downing Street in London. The plan caused the pound's value to plummet, interest rates to soar and the International Monetary Fund [take the unusual step](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-pound-currency-tax-cuts-inflation-cbs-news-explains/) of publicly urging the U.K. [sent financial markets reeling](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-biden-british-prime-minister-liz-truss-abandoned-tax-cut/) early in her tenure when she unveiled a tax cut-focused economic plan alongside her then-finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng. I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party.