UK’s Liz Truss quits
Published:Thursday | October 20, 2022 | 7:47 AM
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned, bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.
She said “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected.”
Just a day earlier Truss had vowed to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.”
But Truss left Thursday after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies and lost control of Conservative Party discipline.
Her departure leaves a divided party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions.
A growing number of lawmakers had called for Truss to resign after weeks of turmoil sparked by her economic plan. The plan unveiled by the government last month triggered financial turmoil and a political crisis that has seen the replacement of Truss' Treasury chief, multiple policy U-turns and a breakdown of discipline in the governing Conservative Party.
Earlier, Conservative lawmaker Simon Hoare said the government was in disarray.
“Nobody has a route plan. It's all sort of hand-to-hand fighting on a day-to-day basis,” he told the BBC on Thursday. He said Truss had “about 12 hours” to turn the situation around.
Truss had held a hastily arranged meeting in her 10 Downing Street office with Graham Brady, a senior Conservative lawmaker who oversees leadership challenges. Brady was tasked with assessing whether the prime minister still has the support of Tory members of Parliament — and it seemed she did not.
A growing number of Conservative members of Parliament had called Thursday for her to step down and end the chaos.
“It's time for the prime minister to go,” lawmaker Miriam Cates said. Another, Steve Double, said of Truss: “She isn't up to the job, sadly.” Legislator Ruth Edwards said “it is not responsible for the party to allow her to remain in power.”
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.