The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, after a meeting with the 1922 Committee Chairman Sir Graham Brady, announced in a short statement in front of Number 10 that she will step down. There will be a new Conservative leadership election within the next week.
Liz Truss had not allowed supporters of her closest Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak in her government. Therefore, from the very start, instead of closing the ranks, she divided the party even further.
Liz Truss had run on a platform of lower taxes and higher spending, pandering to right of her party, appointing Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer to put through a vision which had to be described as “voodoo economics”. Markets very quickly lost confidence and the prime minister was forced to kick her chancellor out of office because he was not ready to step down. With the departure of Kwasi Kwarteng, Liz Truss reversed her financial and economic policy, de facto embracing Rishi Sunak’s vision.
Liz Truss not only had lost the trust of markets, but also of UK voters and even the majority of the Conservatives. Kwasi Kwarteng had just been a scapegoat. The prime minister and her key policy had no future. She had to bring in Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, and the Bank of England had to intervene several times to calm markets.
On October 16, the Conservative MP Robert Halfon had told Sky News that some within the Tories had looked like “libertarian jihadists” over the past weeks and had treated the country “like laboratory mice”.
On October 19, Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned because she had sent an official document from her private, personal email account. That’s a minor error. But Suella Braverman quit the same day. In her letter of resignation she wrote: “I have made a mistake; a accept responsibility; I resign.” This was obviously an attack on Liz Truss who had refused to step down.
In her resignation letter, Suella Braverman had stated what many thought in the UK, including within the Conservative Party: “I have concerns about the direction of this government.” However, a majority would disagree with some of the rest of her statement: “Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters [true, but they were madness], but I have had serious concerns about this Government’s commitment, such as reducing overall migration numbers…”
On October 19, there was also chaos regarding the Conservative Chief Whip Wendy Morton and her deputy Craig Whittaker. Had they stepped down? For hours, there was confusion. Nobody could confirm what was going on, not even in the House of Commons were a Labour member had rightly asked that question.
Also on October 19, in the House of Commons, Liz Truss had responded to Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer’s question why she was still in power: “I am a fighter and not a quitter.” However, the prime minister should fight for the United Kingdom and its citizens. In reality, she was just fighting to keep her job. Today, on October 20, after just 44 days in office, since early September, Liz Truss was forced out of office by the markets, public opinion and, above all, her fellow Conservatives.
Will the next PM come forward with less wild promises? Will there be early elections? Will someone put the elephant in the room aka Rejoin on the table? In July 2022, even Labour leader Keir Starmer had put forward a five-point plan to “Make Brexit Work”! Nobody wants to hear that now but Keir Starmer said, among other things: “With Labour, Britain will not go back into the EU. We will not be joining the single market. We will not be joining a customs union.” That is madness too. The UK needs a long term plan to rejoin. It will not happen overnight.
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Photograph on top of this page: the official portrait of Elizabeth Truss.
Article added on October 20, 2022 at 14:47 Madeira island time.
