LONDON, Oct 20 — British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced Thursday that she would resign after just six weeks in office, following a disastrous and rapidly reversed economic plan that sent the pound plunging and her government into chaos.
Having been formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 6, Truss is now by far the shortest-serving prime minister in British history and will be remembered as one of the most calamitous.
The previous holder of this record, George Canning, lasted 119 days in the early 19th century; Truss will serve about 50.
A leadership contest to decide the next leader of the ruling Conservative Party, who will by default become the next prime minister, is now underway and will conclude in the next week.
On Wednesday, Truss assured Parliament during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session that she was a “fighter, not a quitter.”
But leading a ruling party is only possible with respect and credibility. Truss increasingly had little of either, and quit just a day later.
“I recognize that given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” she said Thursday outside No. 10 Downing St.
“I have therefore spoken to his majesty the king to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.”
She ended the brief statement by saying: “I will remain as prime minister until a successor is chosen.”
The decision follows a night of remarkable scenes in Parliament, with lawmakers denouncing strong-arm tactics employed by Truss’ team that allegedly brought some colleagues to tears, and prompted growing demands for her to go from within her own party.
Attention now turns to who might take her place, but with no clear successor waiting in the wings, there could be more uncertain days ahead.
Truss, 47, promised a radical shift in Britain’s economic fortunes, turning it into a low-tax, high-growth country that would unleash its post-Brexit potential.
In practice, “Trussonomics” was an utter failure and would become her political epitaph.
Her first finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced 45 billion pounds($48 billion) in unfunded tax cuts, which saw the government’s cost of borrowing spiral, an emergency intervention from the central Bank of England and a reprimand from the International Monetary Fund.
Kwarteng was soon fired, and his successor, Jeremy Hunt, set about reversing almost all of the controversial policies. Despite the U-turn, Britain is still coping with the fallout from this plan, with record inflation and increased mortgage rates.
While in office, Truss became a figure of ridicule, compared unfavorably to a rotting lettuce in a blond wig in a tabloid newspaper stunt. Her personal approval rating fell to minus 70, according to pollsters at YouGov, making her the most unpopular party leader in British history. The opposition Labour Party soared in the polls as the ruling Conservatives Party sank.
Truss did not win a national election.
She won the Conservative Party leadership race and became prime minister by default: In Britain’s unwritten Constitution, the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons is invited to head its executive.
Now the Conservatives, known as Tories, will begin the search for their fifth leader in six years, a sign of Britain’s tumultuous political life since the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union.
Some Tories have cautioned against choosing their next leader without allowing the British people at large to have their say.
Most former prime ministers choose either to remain a backbencher — a member of Parliament without a government job who represents their district — or to resign, triggering a by-election.
Whether she continues to serve her constituency in southwest Norfolk in the east of England, or leave to do something completely different, remains to be seen.
