Liz Truss resigns

Liz Truss has just announced that she will be stepping down as Prime Minister. Forty-four days into her premiership, Truss said she was resigning as the leader of the party. Announcing her decision in a short speech outside Downing Street – accompanied by her husband – Truss said that she entered at a time of uncertainty where ‘families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills’. She went on to say that she had delivered on energy bill support and reversed the National Insurance hike. But she recognised that given the situation the country now found itself in – both with economic turmoil and a divided party – she could no longer deliver on the mandate she was given by her party to go for economic growth and tax cuts.

As a result, she tendered her resignation and, with the agreement of the 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, announced that there would be a short leadership contest lasting a week. She will remain in post until then. 

Where did it all go wrong for Truss? She came in as leader of a divided party with the support of just a third of MPs. But the point when things truly spiralled came after the not-so-mini-Budget in which unfunded tax cuts spooked the markets and landed badly with the public. Since then, Truss has lived in a world of least-worst options. As she has tried to find a way, she has lost her chancellor, home secretary and key aides.

Who will replace her? MPs have not managed to unite around a candidate yet – but parliamentary voting rounds will likely follow. Names in the frame include Rishi Sunak, Ben Wallace, Penny Mordaunt, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch. Jeremy Hunt has ruled himself out. The question for candidates is whether they will be able to unify the party and bring stability.