Liz Truss has resigned as Britain’s prime minister after a disastrous six-week tenure, making her the UK’s shortest-serving leader ever.
Another Conservative leadership election is due to take place within a week, with the next prime minister expected to be announced on Friday October 28.
Truss’ announcement came after her government descended into chaos, with key cabinet members and lawmakers savaging her leadership.
The UK will now see its fifth premier since the divisive 2016 Brexit referendum, intensifying calls for an early general election.
“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,” Truss said while standing outside the famous black door of 10 Downing Street, the same spot in which she had promised to put the UK back onto the path to economic growth and stability just six weeks earlier.
Truss bowed out just a day after vowing to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.”
But she couldn’t hold on any longer after a senior minister quit her government with a barrage of criticism and a vote in the House of Commons descended into chaos and acrimony just days after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies.