Well, from the title of this post, you can probably guess what happened.
Liz Truss, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for only 6 weeks, has stepped down. After 44 days of harsh criticism and bad economic policy, she finally gave in to pressure and left office. She has set the most unfortunate record of shortest tenure of any prime minister in UK history. Ouch.
The sudden changes we have seen in British politics - the forced resignation of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss’s stepping down so soon after, not to mention the Queen’s passing - underscores a deep sense of flux and instability in UK politics. Reuters notes that this volatility has been prevalent since the country’s decision to leave the European Union six years ago.
There have been reports that the UK could be getting a new prime minister by Monday. The rules have been set - a minimum of 100 votes for the winning candidate is needed, and since Truss’s Conservative Party has over 300, I’d say they have this one in the bag.
Who’ll it be, though?
Firstly, there is Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson. He ran against Truss six weeks ago, but finished second in votes. He will be trying again, and is seen by many as the most likely candidate. Then there is Penny Mordaunt - Mordaunt is not very well respected amongst her party, and is seen as too inexperienced for the job (her colleagues have said that she doesn’t care much for complex policy) but she has enjoyed a rapid rise amongst the Conservative Party, so I wouldn’t put her out of the running. Finally, most surprisingly, there is Boris Johnson. Some analysts say that the former PM will make a comeback - and I’d bet money that would be the fastest return to the PM office in UK history. However, considering that he resigned literally a month and a half ago, I wouldn’t put my confidence in his reelection.
You never know, though. We’ll have to wait and see.
Live updates:
Update: Boris Johnson has officially removed himself from the PM race.
So interesting, you wrote an article about Truss’ first month of challenges just the other day, and then she resigns just a few days later….