Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister

LONDON - Ms Elizabeth Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as prime minister, brought down by her economic programme that sent shockwaves through the markets and divided her Conservative Party just six weeks after she was appointed.

A leadership election will be completed within the next week.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Ms Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.

"I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty, the King, to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party," she said.

"This morning, I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We've agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week. This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country's economic stability and national security."

Ms Truss is now the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

In theory, Ms Truss was protected from a leadership challenge for a year under existing Conservative Party rules. But if enough MPs came out against Ms Truss, Mr Brady would have been under huge pressure to change the rules to allow a confidence vote.

It is likely that Mr Brady telling Ms Truss she's lost the support of her party prompted her to quit.

In just six weeks as Prime Minister, Ms Truss has been forced to abandon almost all her policy programme after it triggered a bond market rout and a collapse of her approval ratings and those of her Conservative Party.

Since last Friday, she has lost two of the four most senior ministers in government, sat expressionless in Parliament as her new finance minister ripped up her economic plans, and faced howls of laughter as she tried to defend her record.

"We can't go on like this," one Conservative lawmaker told Reuters late on Wednesday, of the chaotic scenes in Parliament.

Ms Truss became Britain's fourth prime minister in six years after being elected in September to lead the Conservative Party by its members, not the broader electorate, and with support from only around a third of the party's lawmakers.

She promised tax cuts funded by borrowing, deregulation and a sharp shift to the right on cultural and social issues.

Candidates to replace Ms Truss include former finance minister Rishi Sunak - who warned that her economic policy would damage the economy - or Ms Penny Mordaunt, a minister who is popular with many strands of the party. New Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt is also a strong contender.

Buffeted by events

Ms Truss has been fighting for political survival since Sept 23, when her then-finance minister and close ally, Mr Kwasi Kwarteng, announced a "mini-budget" of vast, unfunded tax cuts that sent shockwaves through financial markets.

She fired Mr Kwarteng on Friday and accepted the resignation of her Interior Minister, Ms Suella Braverman, on Wednesday.

Ahead of her resignation, with opinion polls showing the Conservatives face a wipe out at the next election, some lawmakers said Ms Truss must go so they can try to rebuild their brand.

Others seemed to have given up.

"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," lawmaker Gary Streeter said on Twitter. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG