LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday after six turbulent weeks in office, making her one of the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.
“I cannot deliver the mandate for which I have been elected by the Conservative Party. I spoke to the king and notified him that I was resigning,” she said in front of her residence and Downing Street. She added that she would remain prime minister until a successor is chosen next week.
A day after she told Parliament that she was a “fighter, not a quitter,” Truss met with the powerful chair of the 1922 committee, Graham Brady, who knows exactly how many Conservative lawmakers have issued letters of no confidence in her leadership.
Under the current rules, Truss should have been safe from challenge for the first 12 months in office. But those rules can be changed.
Truss has only been in office for 44 days. The previous record-holder for shortest-serving prime minister was George Canning, who lasted 119 days. He started on April 12, 1827 and died on Aug. 8, 1827.
Under her leadership, the poll ratings for the Conservative Party have tanked. If there was an election today, the Conservatives would almost be annihilated. YouGov, the pollster, said that she was the most unpopular prime minister the organization has ever tracked.
Truss came to office with a vision for a low-tax, small government state. But her plans, which included billions of unfunded tax cuts, spooked the markets and sent the pound plunging. It wasn’t long before she was forced to jettison her agenda and fire her chancellor.
It was unclear who exactly would take over from Truss. Some commentators speculated that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor who many were calling the de facto prime minister, could be called on to be a caretaker leader.
On Thursday morning at least a 16 of Truss’s own lawmakers went on the record calling for her to resign following a chaotic and confusing 24 hours, which saw claims of bullying in Parliament and the resignation of the home secretary.
Among those was Conservative lawmaker Sir Gary Streeter who tweeted, “sadly, it seems we must change leader BUT even if the angel Gabriel now takes over, the Parliamentary Party has to urgently rediscover discipline, mutual respect and teamwork if we are to (i) govern the UK well and (ii) avoid slaughter at the next election."
Simon Hoare, chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, told the BBC that the country has a “government that wants to function” but conceded it was currently engaged in “hand-to-hand fighting.”
He said that he was a “glass-half-full sort of person” have believed the ship could be turned around. But he added that needed to happen quickly: “I think there's about 12 hours to do it.”
In one impassioned interview Wednesday night, lawmaker Charles Walker spoke frankly about his frustrations. “I’m livid,” he said. “I really shouldn’t say this, but I hope all those people who put Liz Truss in No. 10, I hope it was worth it … because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer, who hasn’t had to do much more than sit back and watch his rivals implode, called for a general election “now.”
“Britain cannot afford to chaos of the Conservatives anymore, we need a general election now,” he said Thursday.