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British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns after just 44 days in office
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Liz Truss has said she was resigning as prime minister, brought down by her economic programme that sent shockwaves through the markets and divided her Conservative Party just six weeks after she was appointed.

She said: “I recognise though given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I therefore have spoken to his Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the conservative party.”

Just a day earlier Truss had vowed to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.”

But Truss left this afternoon after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies and lost control of Conservative Party discipline.

Her departure leaves a divided party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions.

Emerging from Downing Street shortly after 1.30pm, Ms Truss opened her remarks stating: “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 on Ukraine threatened the security of our whole continent and our country has 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..

However she added that: “I recognise though given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.

“This morning, I met the chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady. We have agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week.

“This will ensure that 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.” 

A growing number of lawmakers had called for Truss to resign after weeks of turmoil sparked by her economic plan, announced last month and since largely abandoned after it spooked financial markets.

Earlier Ms Truss met the senior Conservative responsible for establishing whether she commands the confidence of her MPs as she battled an open revolt after a calamitous 24 hours.

Downing Street sources said the prime minister invited Graham Brady, the powerful chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, to No 10 in what appeared to be a hastily-arranged meeting today.

The MP entered No 10 after the number of Tory MPs demanding the prime minister’s resignation doubled within just a couple of hours to a dozen after chaotic scenes in the Commons that followed the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary.

Liz Truss has become shortest serving prime minister in British history.

She announced her resignation having clocked up just 44 full days in the role – a long way behind the next shortest premiership, that of Tory statesman George Canning, who spent 118 full days as PM in 1827 before dying in office from ill health.

Ms Truss was to have overtaken this number of days on January 3 2023.

But instead she will fall short by more than two months, with her successor due to be elected within the next week.

Source: The Independent.ie

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