Truss resigns after six weeks as British Prime Minister

Prime Minister announces resignation outside her office on Downing Street (Photo: BBC)

(Reuters) Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned after 45 days in office, making her the shortest-serving PM in UK history.

Just 100-odd days after Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister, PM Liz Truss has done the same.

This makes her the shortest-serving PM in history, taking the record from George Canning who served 119 days in 1827 when he died.

Truss's premiership has been in turmoil since her mini-budget last month, which rocked markets and was later scrapped by her new chancellor.

The resignation of her home secretary on Wednesday and a chaotic vote in the Commons sealed her fate.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.

Earlier, Conservative Party officials had gathered at Downing Street while a growing number of her own lawmakers called on her to quit.

A leadership election is set for next week to replace her.

Appointed on September 6, Truss was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic programme after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Approval ratings for her and her Conservative Party collapsed.

On Wednesday she lost the second of the government's four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster.

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation as the economy heads into recession and with inflation at a 40-year high.

The Labour leader says: "The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern.

"After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos."

British Prime Minister Liz Truss walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Here's the full statement Liz Truss delivered outside Downing Street confirming her resignation as prime minister.

Quote Message: 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 in Ukraine threatens 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.

I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.

This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We've 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. Thank you"