LOOK: Liz Truss becomes Downing Street's briefest incumbent
Liz Truss is set to become the shortest-serving prime minister in Britain's history, after the public, MPs and the markets comprehensively rejected the self-styled heir to Margaret Thatcher.
Truss succeeded Boris Johnson by selling to the Conservative rank-and-file a plan to turbo-charge economic growth through tax cuts, via increased borrowing.
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Reactions to UK PM Liz Truss's resignation
Following are reactions from senior figures around the world to the resignation of Liz Truss, who said on Thursday that she was resigning as Britain's prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed.
WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF RON KLAIN
"Our country's always had a special relationship with the United Kingdom without regard to the partisan affiliation of our president or the politics of their prime minister. That's going to continue no matter who the UK picks... We're going to work very, very closely with whomever succeeds Prime Minister Truss."
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON
"We want, above all else, stability... On a personal level, I am always sad to see a colleague go."
IRISH PRIME MINISTER MICHEAL MARTIN
"I think stability is very important and we would like to see the UK system within its capacity in a position to have a successor selected as quickly as possible ... during these times when a major war is underway on the continent in Europe."
DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE
"I had a good contact with her (...) so I'm annoyed for her personally (...) We agreed on a whole range of views and I'm looking forward to work with who will be my next colleague. It will be the fifth one, I believe."
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN MARIA ZAKHAROVA
"Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister."
LONDON MAYOR SADIQ KHAN, SPEAKING IN BUENOS AIRES
"This morning I heard the news that my political opponent, the conservative Prime Minister of the UK, has resigned. Had I known that organising the summit could lead to the resignation of the UK PM I'd have organised it sooner."
EXPLAINER - UK PM Liz Truss resigns: What now?
London - Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed.
A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died.
Given the divisions in the party there is no obvious candidate and any replacement would face a country likely heading into a recession.
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‘UK leadership contest to be concluded by October 28'
Britain's Liz Truss resigned as Conservative Party Leader on Thursday, with the election to replace her as prime minister to be completed next week.
1922 Committee chair Graham Brady said he would set out further details on the process later in the day, below is what we know so far:
- Contest to be concluded by October 28
- Expectation is that Conservative Party members will be involved in the process
- Party rules say two candidates would be put forward to the membership, unless there is only one candidate remaining.
Source - Reuters
Russia says UK 'has never known such a disgrace of a PM' after Truss resigns
Russia on Thursday said Britain has "never known such a disgrace as prime minister" after Liz Truss resigned as UK leader just weeks into her time in office.
"The catastrophic ignorance and the queen's funeral immediately after her audience with Liz Truss will be remembered," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. "Britain has never known such a disgrace as prime minister."
Source - AFP
Macron wishes Britain rapid return to stability
France's President Emmanuel Macron wished Britain a rapid return to stability on Thursday as Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after six weeks in office marred by political and economic chaos.
Arriving at an EU summit, Macron said he would not comment on British domestic politics, but added: "It is important that Great Britain regains political stability very quickly, and that is all I wish."
Source - AFP
JUST IN: I am resigning as prime minister, says UK’s Liz Truss
By Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Muvija M
London - Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed, brought down by an economic programme that sent shockwaves through financial markets last month and divided her Conservative Party.
Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.
A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died.
"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 said.
Earlier, Conservative Party officials had gathered at Downing Street while a growing number of her own lawmakers called on her to quit.
Appointed on Sept. 6, Truss was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic programme after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Approval ratings for her and her Conservative Party collapsed.
On Wednesday she lost the second of the government's four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster.
New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation as the economy heads into recession and with inflation at a 40-year high.
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