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Friday, March 29, 2024

PM Liz Truss Resigns after the shortest tenure in Britain’s history

Liz Truss said on Thursday she would resign as Britain’s prime minister, brought down just six weeks into office by an economic program that has dented investor confidence and angered much of her Conservative Party.

Speaking outside the door of her 10 Downing Street office, Truss admitted she had lost faith in her party and said she would step down next week, becoming the shortest-serving female prime minister in British history.

Liz Truss announced her resignation amid a political and economic crisis, making her 45-day tenure, the shortest in Britain’s history. And the challenge is expected to grow for the upcoming Prime Minister of Britain as to stabilize the tumbling economy.

Truss, who said on Wednesday she was “a fighter and not a quitter”, told a crowd of journalists gathered in Downing Street that she realized she could no longer keep the promises that won her the Tory leadership.

“That is why I spoke to His Majesty the King to tell him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party,” said Truss, supported only by her husband and her aides and loyal ministers conspicuously absent.

The election of the new leadership will be completed next Friday, October 28. Among the candidates expected to run are former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, the former Defense Secretary.

Jeremy Hunt, the man brought in to save the public finances, has ruled himself out.

Party members and conservative lawmakers are expected to have a say in the vote. A poll earlier this week showed a majority of members wanted former prime minister Boris Johnson – who was ousted from Downing Street in July – to return.

Britain is not planning to hold a national election for the next two years.

The betting odds put Sunak as the favorite ahead of Mordaunt and Johnson.

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