Facing increasing calls for her resignation amid disastrous economic policies and realities, Liz Truss reversed course from just a day earlier when she said she was a “fighter and not a quitter.” Truss announced she would be stepping down from her leadership role.
“Given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss said. “I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.”
Truss’s resignation is not entirely surprising; she was hardly elected enthusiastically by her conservative MPs this summer. Moreover, Britain’s devalued pound makes her an easy target and scapegoat.
Continuing with her statement, Truss mentioned that a new vote would take place “within the next week” but that she would stay on as Prime Minister “until a successor has been chosen.”
Truss is far from the only newly-installed government head to resign. Earlier, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who ran unsuccessfully for Truss’ job, announced in a scathing letter his reasons for fleeing the sinking Truss ship. He said:
The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes. Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics
And it didn’t stop with Bravermann. Fox News then wrote that the architect of Truss’ failed economic vision had been let go just a few days prior as well:
Braverman’s exit came days after Truss fired Treasury head Kwasi Kwarteng amid financial turmoil that included the British pound declining in value to be nearly equal to the U.S. dollar. The problems came after Truss’ administration pushed a tax cut plan in September, which Kwarteng’s replacement Jeremy Hunt scrapped in October.
Truss apologized to lawmakers on Wednesday and admitted she had made errors during her time in office — just six weeks, so far — but insisted that scrapping the tax cut plan was “the right decision in the interest of the country’s economic stability.”
In just six weeks, Truss took a situation from bad to worse. Through the firing of Kwarteng and her own admissions, she acknowledged that sunsetting the proposed tax plan was “the right decision in the interest of the country’s economic stability.”
No doubt, for as much pressure as Truss was facing from the public and her leftist opponents, the pressure was equally great from within her own party. Conservative hold a slim advantage in Parliament and by ridding themselves of the disastrous reign of Truss they hope to establish an improved government. Fox continued:
Many within the party hope that replacing Truss will stave off Labour Party momentum and help Conservatives maintain control in the long run. Possible replacements for Truss include Hunt, ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who Truss defeated earlier this year, and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
Truss will remain in power until the party chooses a replacement. That process could take weeks under current rules, which allow all party members to vote, although the party’s left wing is looking to change the rules to limit voting to members of Parliament. Such a change could mean Truss could be out within days.
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