British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns after 45 days in office

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Liz Truss is stepping down after a brief, chaotic tenure marked by economic and political turmoil, becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history and the third Conservative Leader to be pushed out by Tory MPs in three years.

Ms. Truss said Thursday that she will resign as leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and as Prime Minister once her successor is chosen, which could be as early as next week.

Her impending departure has set off a flurry of speculation about leadership contenders. It’s likely that many of the MPs who ran against her last summer will try again, including former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, who finished second.

There have also been suggestions that former prime minister Boris Johnson could attempt a comeback, even though his personal popularity plummeted after a series of scandals.

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In a brief statement outside Downing Street, Ms. Truss acknowledged that her vision of low taxes and less government had lost the support of her parliamentary caucus and party members, who elected her leader just six weeks – or 45 days – ago.

“We set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit,” she said. “I recognize, though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”

Her exit follows that of Theresa May, who resigned in 2019, and Mr. Johnson, who quit in July less than three years after leading the party to victory in the 2019 election.

On Thursday, several Tory MPs urged Mr. Johnson to enter the contest. “He’s a winner and the only MP with legitimacy having been overwhelmingly elected by the country,” Tory MP Michael Fabricant said in a tweet. “Without him, calls for a general election will grow.”

But other Tories were more suspect about a return by Mr. Johnson. “I don’t think a sufficient enough time has probably passed for the party to then unite behind him,” said Justin Tomlinson, a Conservative MP who supported Mr. Johnson when he became leader in 2019. “And for me this now is about us, frankly, being grown up, being pragmatic and putting the country first.”

Shortest-serving British prime ministers

Since 20th century

Conservative

Labour

Liberal

Boris Johnson

2019-22

3 years 44 days

James Callaghan

1976-79

3 years 29 days

Theresa May

2016-19

3 years 11 days

Neville Chamberlain

1937-40

2 years 348 days

Gordon Brown

2007-10

2 years 318 days

Sir Henry Campbell-

Bannerman

1905-08

2 years 122 days

1955-57

1 year 279 days

Sir Anthony Eden

Sir Alec Douglas-

Home

1963-64

363 days

Andrew Bonar Law

1922-23 211 days

Liz Truss

45 days (to resignation – Oct. 20, 2022)

graphic news, Sources: BBC News; UK Government

Shortest-serving British prime ministers

Since 20th century

Conservative

Labour

Liberal

Boris Johnson

2019-22

3 years 44 days

James Callaghan

1976-79

3 years 29 days

Theresa May

2016-19

3 years 11 days

Neville Chamberlain

1937-40

2 years 348 days

Gordon Brown

2007-10

2 years 318 days

Sir Henry Campbell-

Bannerman

1905-08

2 years 122 days

1955-57

1 year 279 days

Sir Anthony Eden

Sir Alec Douglas-

Home

1963-64

363 days

1922-23

211 days

Andrew Bonar Law

Liz Truss

45 days (to resignation – Oct. 20, 2022)

graphic news, Sources: BBC News; UK Government

Shortest-serving British prime ministers

Since 20th century

Conservative

Labour

Liberal

Boris Johnson

2019-22

3 years 44 days

James Callaghan

1976-79

3 years 29 days

Theresa May

2016-19

3 years 11 days

Neville Chamberlain

1937-40

2 years 348 days

Gordon Brown

2007-10

2 years 318 days

Sir Henry Campbell-

Bannerman

1905-08

2 years 122 days

1955-57

1 year 279 days

Sir Anthony Eden

Sir Alec Douglas-

Home

1963-64

363 days

1922-23

211 days

Andrew Bonar Law

Liz Truss

45 days (to resignation – Oct. 20, 2022)

graphic news, Sources: BBC News; UK Government

Tory MP Graham Brady, who is in charge of the leadership contest, said Thursday that he expected a new leader and prime minister to be in place by Oct. 28.

Under party rules, Tory MPs nominate candidates from within their caucus and then vote among themselves until two candidates remain. Party members then select the winner in a national ballot that normally takes about a month. However, if MPs can agree on a single candidate, he or she would win by acclamation and could take over as prime minister immediately.

Jake Berry, the party chair, said Thursday that the process will be streamlined. MPs will need the backing of 100 fellow Tories by Monday in order to be nominated. That means there will be a maximum of three candidates, given that the total number of Conservatives is 357.

If there are three candidates, MPs will vote Monday, and the candidate with the fewest ballots will be eliminated. The final two will be put to an indicative vote among MPs later in the day to determine which one they prefer, and then party members will pick the winner through an online vote that will conclude Friday.

Liz Truss leaves in disgrace, while Britain is left to despair

Opposition parties have started clamouring for an election, arguing that the country cannot withstand another prime minister chosen solely by a few thousand Conservative Party members. “After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos,” said Labour Leader Keir Starmer. “The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future.”

Ms. Truss never had much of a chance to put her free-enterprise beliefs into practice, and her brief tenure will be remembered more for the chaos she caused.

She took charge as Prime Minister on Sept. 6, two days before Queen Elizabeth died. When government business resumed after a 10-day period of mourning, Ms. Truss quickly tried to push through her agenda.

Then-chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, who shared Ms. Truss’s economic outlook, unveiled a mini-budget on Sept. 23 that included sweeping tax cuts but no detailed plan spelling out how the measures would be financed. That spooked investors and drove the British pound to a record low against the U.S. dollar. It also pummelled prices for government bonds, which in turn drove up the cost of mortgages.

Ms. Truss faced a chorus of criticism and began backtracking. First she scrapped plans to cut the top income tax rate to 40 per cent from 45 per cent. Then, she fired Mr. Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt, who started dismantling almost all the tax cuts in the mini-budget.

With her economic plan in disarray and almost all of her campaign promises broken, Ms. Truss vowed to fight on, but her efforts to address her many U-turns fell flat. Public opinion polls put the Conservatives 30 points behind the Labour Party, and one survey found that just 10 per cent of voters approved of Ms. Truss’s performance in office.

The final blows to her leadership came this week. Home Secretary Suella Braverman abruptly resigned Wednesday for breaching ministerial rules by using her personal e-mail to send a cabinet document. In a scathing resignation letter, Ms. Braverman said the government was heading in the wrong direction and criticized Ms. Truss for not resigning. Hours later, Tory MPs got into shouting matches and started shoving each other during a vote in the House of Commons.

By Thursday morning, Ms. Truss had sounded out MPs and understood that she no longer had their confidence. She made her brief comments outside Downing Street and left.

Possible contenders to replace Liz Truss as Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak

Mr. Sunak, 42, was seen as the best choice for prime minister among Conservative MPs last summer but finished second to Liz Truss in the vote by party members. During the leadership race he criticized Ms. Truss’s plan to slash taxes, calling it irresponsible. He has proven to have been largely correct, which makes him a leading contender to replace her. But the Tory faithful remain unsure about his polished background, which includes degrees from Oxford and Stanford universities, as well as working at Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund.

Penny Mordaunt

She came a surprising third in last summer’s leadership contest and at one point looked like the front-runner. Ms. Mordaunt, 49, has held several cabinet posts, including briefly serving as Britain’s first female Defence Secretary. She is considered a moderate, although she was a prominent supporter of Brexit during the referendum in 2016. However, she has been vague about policy and did not perform especially well during the leadership debates last summer.

Ben Wallace

The current Defence Secretary, a former soldier, did not run last time even though he was an early favourite to win. He’s back on many MPs’ wish list because he is seen as a stable, popular minister. Mr. Wallace, 52, did not support Brexit but backed Boris Johnson’s leadership bid in 2019. He has insisted that he wants to remain Defence Secretary.

Kemi Badenoch

A junior minister with little cabinet experience, Ms. Badenoch, 42, did much better than expected in last summer’s leadership race, finishing fourth. She became the darling of the party’s right wing by taking on so-called “woke” culture and backing Ms. Truss’s vision of low taxes and less government. While popular among the grassroots of the party, she only became an MP in 2017 and entered cabinet for the first time as International Trade Secretary under Ms. Truss.

Suella Braverman

She resigned this week as home secretary after admitting to a security breach – using her personal e-mail to send a cabinet document. But in her resignation letter Ms. Braverman, 42, lashed out at Ms. Truss and hinted at disagreements over slashing immigration levels. She also ran last time and is firmly on the right wing of the party.

Boris Johnson

The former prime minister was ousted last July by MPs in a bitter showdown, after a string of scandals that included parties during COVID-19 lockdowns. Mr. Johnson and others, including Mr. Sunak, were fined for breaches of pandemic regulations. He is also under investigation by a parliamentary committee over allegations that he misled Parliament about whether lockdown rules had been broken. While many MPs may be wary of a comeback by Mr. Johnson, who is 58, he is still very popular among party members. He also won a massive majority in the 2019 election.

James Cleverly

Mr. Cleverly, 53, was appointed Foreign Secretary by Ms. Truss and solidly backed her in the last leadership race. He is a strong communicator and considered a safe pair of hands. But his relatively low profile among members likely rules him out as a serious contender.