The Story
Liz Truss announced her resignation on Thursday, October 20th. She held the role for over a month, making her the shortest-serving British Prime Minister ever. The ruling Conservative Party chose her after Boris Johnson resigned. She immediately made the economy her top priority and announced a series of significant tax cuts in hopes of rallying it. The move itself was a substantial shift in their current policy, and she failed to explain how the cuts would be paid for. It spooked an already fragile market and sent the economy into a spiral.
Truss was a controversial choice, and her selection caused the party to turn on itself. Her fate was sealed when she failed to unite her party on a fracking vote, putting her lack of leadership on display for the entire world. The vote would end up being her last full day in office.
Significance
This is just the latest shock in what has been a tumultuous few months for the British Government. The country lost its beloved Queen Elizabeth and will now be seeing their third Prime Minister since July. This chaos comes at a difficult time, with fears of a global recession looming.
Selecting a successful prime minister now appears to be the Conservative Party’s only hope to remain in power. Truss’s selection caused deep divides within the party, and it will take a strong politician to mend them. The rival Labour Party is surging further ahead in the polls, and anything but excellence from the new Prime Minister will likely result in a change in the ruling party.
What’s Next?
The Conservative Party will need to elect a new Prime Minister quickly to avoid further economic decline. The early favorite appears to be former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who was the runner-up to Truss a couple of months ago. New changes will allow them to replace Truss quickly, so we should see a selection sometime this week.
