Ms. Truss resigned after only six weeks in office, as nearly all of her iconic tax cuts were repealed, a blatant rejection of her leadership.
LONDON – On Thursday, British Prime Minister Liz Truss officially confirmed her resignation, bringing to a close a six-week tenure that launched with a radical trial in trickle-down economics as well as evolved into financial and political chaos as the majority of those policies were overturned.
Ms. Truss, 47, asserted that she could no longer govern with her tax-cutting agenda in shambles, her Conservative Party’s lawmakers in revolt, as well as her government in the hands of individuals who did not support her or her policies. She is the British Prime Minister with the shortest tenure in history.
“Given the circumstances, I am unable to achieve the mandate under which I was voted into office by the Conservative Party,” a glum Ms. Truss said as she stood on the rain-slicked paving outside 10 Downing Street, where she’d only 44 days ago met the public as Britain’s new leader.
Ms. Truss stated that she will keep her position until the party selects a successor by the close of next week. This sets off a frantic, unpredictable race to replace her in a party that is both disheartened and deeply divided. Boris Johnson, the vibrant preceding prime minister she replaced after he was forced out in a series of scandals, is one of the likely candidates.
Ms. Truss resigned a day after publicly announcing in Parliament, “I’m a fighter, not a quitter,” after one hastily meeting scheduled with party elders on Thursday, such as Graham Brady, the chief of a cohort of Conservative lawmakers that plays an impactful role in selecting the party leader.
It was the most shocking revelation in a week that included the resignation of Ms. Truss’s chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng; the bitter exit of the home secretary, Suella Braverman; and a near-riot in Parliament on Wednesday night, as cabinet ministers attempted to force unruly Tory lawmakers to support the prime minister in a ballot on the decision to ban hydraulic fracking.
Ms. Truss — only the 3rd female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher & Theresa May had lost control of her government and party as a result of the spectacle.
Her mandate, however, had already been torn up: her initiatives for clearing, unfunded tax cuts shook financial markets, raising concerns that they would blow a hole in Britain’s economy.
The pound fell into a tailspin, briefly approaching parity with the dollar, forcing the Bank of England to mediate in bond markets to prevent pension funds from collapsing, as well as sending mortgage interest rates skyrocketing.
The ensuing chaos has left Britons dissatisfied and disillusioned, with many believing the country is out of control.”We are in a financial, political, food, and everything crisis,” said Cristian Cretu, a gas engineer taking a break from his work. “Whoever replaces her, I don’t think they’ll make a difference.”
The opposing party Labour Party has called for a snap election. Nevertheless, under British law, the Conservatives really aren’t obligated to hold a referendum until January 2025.
If sufficient Conservative lawmakers joined the opposing side, they might compel an election, but with the party’s popularity plummeting in polls, it is in their best interests to postpone any meeting with voters. Using their own flexible rule book, British political convention also permits them to alter party leaders and consequently the prime minister.
Ms. Truss’ role was already precarious on Monday, when her recently appointed chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, revealed that the government would reverse the last remnants of her tax reforms. Ms. Truss sat silently behind Mr. Hunt as he provided specifics of the reconfigured fiscal plan in House of commons, a distant smile on her face.
It is yet another episode in the political upheaval that has followed Britain’s ballot to exit the European Union in 2016. The country’s 5th prime minister in six years will take office soon.
Ms. Truss is the third successive prime minister to be ousted from power by the Conservative Party, also known as the Tory Party, which seems to have transitioned into warring factions and has fallen up to 33 percentage points behind the opponent Labour Party in polls.
The political chaos comes just a month after Britain laid to rest Queen Elizabeth II, who prevailed for seven decades and served as the country’s anchor. Greeting Ms. Truss at Balmoral Castle after she gained the party leadership was one of queen’s final official duties.
On Thursday, Ms. Truss stated she had notified King Charles III of her move to step down.
The Conservatives declared the rules for the new leadership race, which include a minimum of 100 nominations from legislators and a limit of three hopefuls.
Conservative Members of the party will vote online to select the winner from a shortlist of two candidates chosen by lawmakers, with the objective of preventing the lengthy, multiple stage campaign that ended in Ms. Truss last summer.
In fact, the contest may not go that far: if only one contender receives 100 nominations, or if the 2nd contender withdraws, a decision will be made on Monday.
“In recent leadership elections, they have selected an individual who is clearly inappropriate for the job,” Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, said.
“It’s highly improbable that anyone will come to their aid electorally, but there are individuals who can walk into No. 10 and perform the job of prime minister rationally, emotionally, and practically.”
Nonetheless, Ms. Truss’s latest upheavals have revealed how divided the Conservative Party is after 12 tiring years of power, as well as how challenging it will be for her replacement to unify it.
Rishi Sunak, previously a chancellor who competed against Ms. Truss last summer & warned that her policies would cause chaos, ought to be in the lead, having helped lead the Treasury and exceeded expectations under pressure during the leadership campaign. But he lost that election largely because many party members held him responsible for the downfall of Mr. Johnson, from whose cabinet he stepped down.
“Rishi Sunak is the obvious pick,” Professor Bale said. “The concern is whether they will be able to forgive him. People may be prepared to forgive him for his alleged sins considering that the circumstance is so dire.”
That is far from certain, even so, because Mr. Sunak is also viewed with suspicion on the party’s right as well as among hard-core Brexit proponents in Parliament.
Some opponents would find his leadership difficult to stomach, along with the business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who once declined to refute reports that he had called Mr. Sunak’s policies, that included tax increases, “socialist.”
Proponents of Mr. Johnson, who is rumored to be thinking about running for his old job, argue that he has an obligation to lead due to his resounding election victory in 2019. One of his loyalists, James Duddridge, tweeted under the hashtag #bringbackboris, “I sincerely hope you enjoyed your holiday boss.” It’s time to return. A few problems need to be resolved at the office.
Nevertheless, considering the circumstances of his removal from office in July as well as the fact that he continues to remain a controversial figure among voters, restoring him would be extremely risky.
A parliamentary inquiry is also looking into whether Mr. Johnson misinformed the House of Commons regarding parties held in Downing Street that violated pandemic rules.
Even if Mr. Johnson is cleared, it will serve as a reminder to Britons of the numerous scandals that led to his ouster by lawmakers. And the council could recommend Mr. Johnson’s excommunication or restriction from Parliament, a censure that could include a vote by his constituents on whether to kick him out entirely.
Ms. Braverman exposed the party’s ideological divides in a bitter letter written after she was dismissed, ostensibly for violating security measures by mailing a government document on her private email. She accused Ms. Truss of breaking promises and softening her stance on immigration.
Ms. Braverman’s final remark exemplified the right’s opposition to Mr. Hunt’s increasing influence, a conservative who voted against Brexit and was a supporter as well as ally of Mr. Sunak. Mr. Hunt, who has 2 times run for party leader, has said he will not this time.
If the Conservatives permit another untested candidate from outside the mainstream, such as Ms. Braverman or Kemi Badenoch, who currently holds the secretary of international trade role, to take over Downing Street, financial markets could experience revived volatility.
Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader who came third in the election last summer, appears to be well placed to bridge the gap. She is a great communicator, but she has no experience at the government’s highest levels.
Another possibility is a contender with too little ideological baggage, such as Defense Secretary Ben Wallace or new Home Secretary Grant Shapps.
Mr. Wallace, on the other hand, decided not to run earlier this year, claiming he did not care enough about the job. Mr. Shapps deduced that he lacked the necessary support to win.
Whoever is chosen will inherit a daunting set of issues, ranging from 10.1 percent inflation and skyrocketing energy prices to labor unrest and the threat of a deep recession. The new leader will have to cut government spending, which is likely to be opposed by various coalitions of Conservative lawmakers.
Mr. Hunt announced on Monday that the government would end its massive government involvement to cap energy prices in April, substituting it with an as-yet-undefined program to promote energy efficiency. This may be unpopular, adding to the uncertainty for families facing rising electricity and gas prices.
Whereas the current regime has abandoned Ms. Truss’s tax cuts, in one of the dramatic policy shifts in modern British history, the chaos her initiative caused in the marketplaces has left lasting damage. According to economists, the increase in interest rates has made having to borrow more expensive for the government, exerting pressure for even deeper cuts in spending.
Notwithstanding the the Conservative Party’s internal strife, Professor Bale believes it is not inherently uncontrollable as long as the right decision is made. The implications for the party are incredibly high, as recent times have demonstrated.
“The Conservative Party is an extraordinarily leadership-dominated party,” he said, “which implies that if you choose the improper leader, you’re in big trouble.”
