Home NewsEurope Truss Resigned as UK Prime Minister

Truss Resigned as UK Prime Minister

by Thaabit Kamaar
Photo by [Euronews]

 

Liz Truss resigned as the British Prime Minister after just over six weeks in office. Her resignation makes her the fourth conservative PM to leave in six years, making her tenure the shortest in British history.

Truss, a self-proclaimed Zionist, was elected on the premise that she would address the country’s energy and economic crisis and promote economic reform by cutting taxes.

A prominent event during the Truss administration was the firing of her colleague and friend, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, after his “mini-budget” plan failed, resulting in negative market responses and Tory MPs openly criticising the strategy.

In her resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street, Truss said, “I was elected by the conservative party with a mandate to change this. We delivered on energy bills 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.”

She continues to state that the conservative party will elect a new leader in the upcoming week, and she will remain in her position until a new leader is appointed.

 

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Leadership Crisis

Her resignation was not a surprise to Yussuf Al-Helou, a political analyst and journalist based in the UK. According to Al-Helou, Truss’s leadership inexperience is evident in the reversal of her strategy to cut taxes, the inability to address the looming economic recession, and the energy crisis caused by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

Al-Helou said, “It seems every Prime Minister doesn’t want to be held accountable for the mistakes and for the crises caused by the lack of leadership. There are many problems to do with the security inside the UK, the consequences of Brexit and the relationship between Europe and the UK.”

In recent years, the public has begun to lose confidence in the competence of the Tory party to lead, with calls for a change in leadership and an early general election set to take place in 2024.


Who’s Next?

With the resignation of Truss, there is uncertainty about possible candidates. Some have named Rishi Sunak, who lost out to Truss for PM just a few weeks ago and former PM Boris Johnson.

According to Al-Helou, Sunak has the capability and the competency to restore Tory’s image in the eyes of the public and has experience in dealing with challenging situations.

Suppose there was to be an early general election, in that case, there is fear that the conservative party might lose, as Truss’s resignation only added to their dislike by the British public.

However, the scenario seems unlikely. A general election would only be a temporary solution as the new leadership would inherit the same social and economic problems.

“It seems that whoever is coming to lead the conservative party is going to inherit this burden. It’s a heavy burden, there are so many problems, so many crises, and it seems there is no courage from any of those leaders to admit and say, because it was a total disaster, let’s just correct this mistake. It seems it’s part of the culture here. They are not willing to admit to those great mistakes.”


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