British Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced she is resigning after admitting she couldn't "deliver the mandate on which I was elected."
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Truss said she had told King Charles III she would stand down as Conservative leader immediately, but would remain prime minister for another week while her party selects a replacement.
Truss had been in the job for less than seven weeks, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in U.K. history.
In her statement, Truss noted she took office during "a time of great economic and international instability," which she blamed on "Putin's illegal war in Ukraine."
She expressed regret that her vision, of "a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit," had not been realised.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for an immediate general election, rather than another Conservative leadership contest.
Truss won the last contest, which was triggered by the resignation of Boris Johnson in July. However, her government came under intense pressure after a mini-budget on September 23, which announced billions of pounds worth of unfunded tax cuts. This led to a loss of market confidence in the U.K. economy and a slump in the value of the pound.
This chart, provided by Statista, shows UK prime ministers taking office after 1945 with the shortest tenures (as of Oct 20, 2022).
On October 14, the prime minister fired her chancellor and close ally Kwasi Kwarteng. His replacement, Jeremy Hunt, reversed most of the planned tax cuts.
On Wednesday Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary following a breach of ministerial security procedures—and reports that she had rowed with Truss over immigration.
Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the powerful 1922 Committee group of Conservative MPs and will help organise the next leadership contest, spoke outside Parliament after Truss's address.
He said the leadership election results should be in by Friday of next week and Conservative members, who chose Truss over rival Rishi Sunak, would get a say.
Frontrunners for the next Tory leader include Sunak, a former Chancellor, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Penny Mordaunt, currently leader of the House of Commons.
In a statement responding to the news, opposition leader Starmer said: "After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos.
"The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambled by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people. We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election, now."
The Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party have also called for a fresh public poll. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tweeted: "We don't need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis.
"We need a General Election now and the Conservatives out of power."
Truss took office on September 6, meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral just two days before Britain's longest-reigning monarch died at the age of 96. She oversaw 10 days of national mourning culminating in the queen's burial at Windsor.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he is "sad on a personal level" to see Truss leave.
He added: "It's important that the U.K. finds stability as soon as possible."
Before Truss, Britain's shortest-serving prime minister was George Canning, who held power for 119 days before dying in 1827.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
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