That’s it. Liz Truss is going. Standing outside the door of Number 10, Truss announced her resignation today, cementing herself in the annals of history as the briefest serving prime minister in Britain’s history.
In that regard, she should be proud, Truss absolutely smashed George Canning’s previous record of 119 days, holding office for only 45 days.
In a premiership that was at best rocky from the start, and at worst a disaster for the country, her leadership went from bad to worse after the explosive mini-budget which set the financial markets racing. By this morning, what little credibility Truss had left – with the country or her own party – was in tatters. But sterling rose to S1.13: what a horrible indictment of her time in office.
Yet Truss was brutally honest in her statement: “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”
The Tory party, too, will find that it is lacking in credibility following the events of recent weeks, and repeated calls for a general election from the opposition.
A week-long leadership election will now take place, with 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady saying that he expects a result by Friday next week. Now the real leadership campaign begins: Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are the two current favourites to replace her. But a week is a long time in politics…
