Truss will remain as prime minister until a successor is found. The Conservatives want to elect a new prime minister themselves, just like with the last change of power. Candidates are Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. The latter is the favorite among party members, but they no longer get a vote after the debacle-Truss.
As far as the Labor opposition is concerned, the time has come for new elections. The Tories are more than 30 percentage points behind in the polls and are therefore reluctant to trust their fate to the British people.
Standing in front of the black door of 10 Downing Street, and next to her husband Hugh, Truss announced her resignation on Thursday afternoon. She did so after lengthy consultations with Sir Graham Brady, the leader of the Conservative faction.
Since new Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt shredded almost her entire budget on Monday, Truss’ position as Prime Minister has already become untenable. She was then forced to agree to policies more or less drafted by the man she had defeated in the fight for the party’s leadership: Rishi Sunak.
Chaos
On Tuesday, party star Michael Gove claimed that it was not a question of if she was going to resign, but when. During weekly question time, Truss said on Wednesday that she would continue to fight. “I’m a fighter, not a step-up,” she stated firmly.
Later that day, Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned after an argument with Truss. In the evening the chaos intensified as the Conservatives were forced, even physically, to vote in line with the government. That heavy-handed approach was the last straw for many MPs. The anger within the group was great.
After taking office, Truss took a big gamble with the announcement of tax cuts worth 50 billion euros without solid substantiation. This led to unrest in the financial markets and she was eventually forced to fire her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng. She also made her own position very shaky.
Truss presented himself as a new Thatcher, but turned out not to be. Her premiership was, in a word, disastrous.