United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned on Thursday 20th October 2022. She resigned from the Prime Ministerial post on the 45th day of joining the office. Truss made the statement outside Downing Street, following her near-complete loss of political power. Liz Truss announced her resignation following the collapse of the markets after her controversial economic policies. She also lost two important ministers, and lose the trust of nearly all of her own MPs. Truss will hold the record for the shortest tenure as prime minister of the UK.
In her resignation speech, Liz Truss said, “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills. Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent. And our country had been held back for too long by low economic growth. I was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change this. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance. And we set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy – that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.”
The outgoing PM accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader. 47-year-old Liz Truss said, “I recognize 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. This morning I met the Chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady. We have agreed there will be a leadership election to be completed in the next week.”
Concluding her final address, Liz Truss said, “This will ensure we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security. I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen.”
On 5th September 2022, Mary Elizabeth Truss, serving as the Foreign Secretary since 2021, emerged victorious in her race with Rishi Sunak to become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Liz Truss got over 57% of the votes compared to Sunak, who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Boris Johnson’s administration before resigning, who could only get just over 42%.
Over 172,000 members of the Conservative Party were eligible to vote during this election to elect their next leader, with 82.4% turning out to vote. Liz Truss got 81,326 votes while Sunak could only muster 60,399 votes. 654 ballot papers were rejected.
Liz Truss was widely expected to win the PM race against Sunak after a campaign spanning the entire summer. The election for the new leader of the Conservative Party took place after the outgoing PM Boris Johnson was forced to resign following the resignations of most of his cabinet due to a number of scandals in his government.