Just in: UK Prime Minister, Truss quits 45 days after appointment

Liz Truss just announced that she won’t continue as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after just 45 days, following the near-complete evaporation of her political authority.

Truss, who would become the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history, has been under pressure from Tory MPs to quit after the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary and as the Tory party plunged into chaos.

Speaking outside No10, Liz Truss said: ‘I recognise… given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.’

“This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We’ve agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week.

‘This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.

“I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen. Thank you.”

During the hour the meeting lasted, the number of MPs publicly calling for Truss to step down reached 17. The number who have written letters to Brady expressing no confidence in the prime minister was reported to be over 100 by Thursday.

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Truss said outside Downing Street that she and Brady had agreed the party would complete a leadership election within the next week.

Opposition parties Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats called for an immediate general election on Thursday afternoon. Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern.”

Truss was appointed prime minister on Sept. 6, just two days before Queen Elizabeth II passed away after 70 years on the throne.

On Sept. 23, Truss’ finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced a so-called “mini-budget” which began a turbulent period for U.K. bond markets which balked at the debt-funded tax cuts he put forward. Most of the policies were reversed three weeks later by the second finance minister, Jeremy Hunt.

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Truss beat Rishi Sunak to become leader of the Conservative Party following the resignation of Boris Johnson on July 7. Sunak is now one of the favorites to replace Truss, along with Hunt, another leadership contender Penny Mordaunt, Defense Minister Ben Wallace and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The resignation leaves the status of the Conservatives’ expected budget update on Oct. 31 uncertain, but Truss said the leadership handover would “ensure we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans.”