LONDON | British Prime Minister Liz Truss finally resigned on Thursday to resign after just six weeks in Downing Street and British Conservatives are looking for a new leader in a country in the midst of economic and social crisis.
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“Given the situation, I cannot fulfill the mandate for which I was elected by the Conservative Party. So I spoke to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning,” said the 47-year-old leader in front of 10 Downing Street, in a very short speech.
A vote to find him a successor within the Conservative Party will take place “by next week”, added the one who becomes the Prime Minister to have stayed the shortest time in Downing Street in modern British history, with only 44 days in post.
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The chairman of the 1922 committee, responsible for organizing the Conservative Party, Graham Brady, then clarified that the next prime minister will be appointed by October 28 and the ballot will see a maximum of two candidates compete, in a process much more shorter than the election that brought Liz Truss to Downing Street this summer.
“We are very aware of the need, in the national interest, to resolve (this crisis) quickly and clearly,” he said.
Thursday morning, the Prime Minister seemed to still cling to power, a spokesperson assuring that she was “working” with her Minister of Finance Jeremy Hunt to prepare their medium-term economic plan, the day after a catastrophic day for her .
But late in the morning, Ms. Truss met with Mr. Brady. The list of Conservative parliamentarians demanding his departure was growing hour by hour.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, which is seeing millions of Britons suffer from inflation, the Conservative Party is resuming an internal election to find a new leader – the fifth in six years -, while the previous one had place this summer, after the resignation of Boris Johnson, against a backdrop of scandals in Downing Street and in the majority.
Who will be the candidates, while for days, several names have been circulating to succeed Liz Truss, such as those of Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt – the Minister responsible for relations with Parliament – or even Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister whom she replaced in September?
sinking
It was the presentation of a mini-budget on September 23 containing aid for energy bills but also massive and unfunded tax cuts that brought about the end of Mrs. Truss. This plan had caused the pound to fall to its historic low and panicked the markets, failing to degenerate into a financial crisis without the emergency intervention of the Bank of England.
Thursday, the pound rose a little against the dollar after the announcement of the resignation of Liz Truss.
Even after sacking her finance minister and close friend Kwasi Kwarteng and then abandoning her plan, Ms Truss was never able to pick herself up and restore confidence in the Tory ranks. His popularity, already low, plummeted in the polls.
From then on, Liz Truss was sure that she wanted to stay in place, her maintenance in Downing Street seemed impossible. And even more since the catastrophic day of Wednesday, marked by the departure of its Minister of the Interior Suella Braverman, then by a melodrama in Parliament on the vote of a text which turned into a rat race between the conservative deputies .
“Embarrassment”
The Tories have decided to avoid early legislative elections, when the Labor opposition prances ahead in the polls.
After Liz Truss’ announcement, their leader Keir Starmer called for a general election to be called “now” and not late 2024 or early 2025 as planned.
This political storm in one of the main world powers, in the midst of war in Ukraine, did not fail to react internationally.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes the UK will “quickly” regain “stability”.
Russian diplomacy for its part mocked the announcement of the resignation of Liz Truss, believing that the country had “never experienced such embarrassment”.
In Godalming, a small town in Surrey south of London, Sally Sherfield, a retiree who does not vote Conservative, welcomed her departure. “I think it’s best that she leaves,” although she would have preferred a general election in hopes of bringing the opposition to power.
For Carmen Harvey-Browne, a retired schoolteacher and Conservative voter, the situation had become an “absolute mess” and Truss “had to go”. She “was not made for this task”, she believes, saying she now has “a little more hope”.
Recall of the five British prime ministers with the shortest terms for a hundred years, after the resignation Thursday of Liz Truss, who remained only 44 days in Downing Street.
Liz Truss, 44 days
Former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss takes office on September 6, 2022, following Boris Johnson’s forced resignation amid scandals in Downing Street.
The country’s third female prime minister, she defeated former finance minister Rishi Sunak, on the promise of vast tax cuts, which won over the party’s conservative base.
But the presentation of a mini-budget on September 23, containing aid for energy bills as well as massive and unfunded tax cuts, caused panic in the markets and caused the pound to fall to its historic low.
The Bank of England intervenes urgently to prevent the situation from degenerating into a financial crisis.
Thursday, October 20, Liz Truss, weakened within her conservative majority and more unpopular than ever in public opinion, throws in the towel.
Andrew Bonar Law, 209 days
Son of a Scottish pastor born in September 1858 in Canada, the Conservative Andrew Bonar Law became Prime Minister in October 1922.
At the end of a mandate of 209 days, Bonar Law, nicknamed the “forgotten” prime minister, resigns for health reasons. He died soon after of cancer.
Alec Douglas-Home, 363 Days
Alec Douglas-Home entered Downing Street in October 1963. It was the curator Harold Macmillan who, ill, called on him to replace him.
Lord Home, heir to a large Scottish aristocratic family, gave way to Labor a year later, after Harold Wilson’s victory in 1964.
Secretary to Edward Heath’s Foreign Office in the 1970s, he returned to the House of Lords at the end of his career.
Anthony Eden – 1 year and 279 days
On April 6, 1955, the Conservative Anthony Eden, a brilliant head of diplomacy, succeeded Winston Churchill, who was retiring.
Weakened by the fiasco of the Suez military expedition after the nationalization of the canal by the Egyptian Abdel Nasser, he resigned on January 9, 1957, less than two years later.
Gordon Brown – 2 years, 319 days
Tony Blair’s finance minister, Labor Gordon Brown, won the support of party members and became prime minister in June 2007.
But the financial crisis of 2008 and his clumsy style shorten his tenure. This son of a Scottish pastor was beaten by the conservative David Cameron in the 2010 elections.
Some predecessors
During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was common for prime ministers to remain in office for less than a year.
The Duke of Devonshire thus remained at the head of the government only 225 days in 1756-57 while the second Earl of Shelburne spent only 265 days there in 1782-83.
An absolute record for shortness, the Duke of Wellington served just 22 days in his second term as Prime Minister in 1834.