British Prime Minister Liz Truss quit Thursday after a tumultuous and historically brief term in which her economic policies roiled financial markets and a rebellion in her political party obliterated her authority. Truss became the third Conservative prime minister to be toppled in as many years, extending the instability that has shaken Britain since it broke off from the European Union and leaving its leadership in limbo as the country faces a cost-of-living crisis and looming recession. “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss acknowledged in a statement delivered outside her 10 Downing Street office. Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief, but Truss leaves a divided party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions. Truss, who said she will remain in office until a replacement is chosen, has been prime minister for just 45 days and will almost certainly become the shortest-serving leader in British history. The ruling Conservative Party said it would choose a successor by the end of next week. Potential contenders include former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss in the last leadership contest, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace — and Boris Johnson, the former prime minister ousted in July over a series of ethics scandals. The low-tax, low-regulation economic policies that got Truss elected proved disastrous in the real world at a time of soaring inflation and weak growth. Her Sept. 23 economic plan included a raft of tax cuts — paid for by government borrowing — that investors worried Britain couldn’t afford. That pummeled the value of the pound and drove up the cost of mortgages, causing economic pain for people and businesses already struggling from an economy yet to emerge from the pain of the pandemic. That tumult resulted in the replacement of Truss’ Treasury chief, multiple policy U-turns and a breakdown of discipline in the governing Conservative Party. Truss bowed out just a day after vowing to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.” But she couldn’t hold on any longer after a senior minister quit her government with a barrage of criticism and a vote in the House of Commons descended into chaos and acrimony just days after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies. The pound rose about 1% Thursday to around $1.13 after Truss’ resignation. But where the Conservative Party goes from here is not clear. Party chiefs hope lawmakers can rally around a unity candidate, but that seems unlikely in a party whose myriad factions — from hard-right Brexiteers to centrist “One Nation” Tories — are at each other’s throats. “Nobody has a route plan. It’s all sort of hand-to-hand fighting on a day-to-day basis,” Conservative lawmaker Simon Hoare told the BBC on Thursday before Truss resigned. Read: Pound rises against dollar as investors react to UK PM Truss' resignation “It’s time for the prime minister to go,” Conservative lawmaker Miriam Cates said, echoing the sentiments of many others. Newspapers that usually support the Conservatives were vitriolic. An editorial in the Daily Mail on Thursday was headlined: “The wheels have come off the Tory clown car.” Her downfall was so rapid that the party was unable to spell out exactly how the selection of a new leader would unfold, and whether the party’s 172,000 members, or only its 357 lawmakers, would get a say. The new leader is due to be in place by Oct. 28. Truss’ resignation is the culmination of months of simmering discontent inside the Conservative Party as its poll ratings with the public have plunged. Johnson’s government was revealed to have held a series of parties in government buildings during period of coronavirus lockdown, when people in Britain were barred from mingling with friends and family or even visiting dying relatives. The party spent the summer picking a replacement as the economy worsened amid spiking energy prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Against that backdrop, many people — including many Conservatives — felt Truss’ tax-cutting policies would do little to help ordinary people struggling to make ends meet. Whoever succeeds Truss will become the country’s third prime minister this year. A national election doesn’t have to be held until 2024, but opposition parties demanded one be held now, saying the government lacks democratic legitimacy. Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of presiding over “utter chaos.” “This is doing huge damage to our economy and the reputation of our country,” he said. “We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.” Truss’ political unraveling began after she and her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled an economic plan with 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts. That hammered of the value of the pound and increased the cost of U.K. government borrowing. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk. Read: Temporary ban on tourism at Rowangchhari and Ruma to fight ‘militants and criminals’ Truss then fired Kwarteng, and his replacement, Hunt, scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with energy subsidies and her promise of no public spending cuts. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31. Speaking to lawmakers for the first time since the U-turn, Truss apologized Wednesday and admitted she had made mistakes during her six weeks in office, but insisted that by changing course she had “taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability.” Still, Truss said she would not resign — a resolve that was short-lived. Within hours a senior Cabinet minister, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, quit, blasting Truss in her resignation letter, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government.” For many Conservative lawmakers, the final straw was a Wednesday evening vote over fracking for shale gas that produced chaotic scenes in Parliament, with party whips accused of using heavy-handed tactics to gain votes. Chris Bryant, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, said he “saw members being physically manhandled ... and being bullied.” Conservative officials denied this. Truss’ departure on Thursday sparked jubilation for the tabloid Daily Star, which has set up a livestream featuring a photo of the prime minister beside a head of lettuce to see which would last longer. “This lettuce outlasted Liz Truss!” it proclaimed Thursday. While many Britons joined the world in laughing at the lettuce joke, Bronwyn Maddox, director of international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said “there is no question that the U.K.’s standing in the world has been severely battered by this episode and by the revolving door of prime ministers.” She said Truss’ successor would need to have policies “based on economic stability, but need also to include a resolution of the relationship with Europe; much of the upheaval represents the bitter aftermath of Brexit.”

The UK's economic and political turmoil over the past few weeks - culminating in nearly all of Liz Truss's original finance plans now being axed - has been watched around the world. It is rare for close allies to comment on each other's key policies at home - and if they do, it's unlikely to be an outright criticism. But at the weekend US President Joe Biden weighed in, saying Ms Truss's original plan was a "mistake" and it was "predictable" that she would have to backtrack. "I wasn't the only one that thought it was a mistake," Mr Biden said. "I disagree with the policy, but that's up to Great Britain." The EU's economy chief, meanwhile, said there were "lessons to learn" from what is happening in the UK. "What happened shows how volatile is the situation and so how prudent we should be also with our fiscal and monetary mix," said Paolo Gentiloni on Friday after Ms Truss fired ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. The world's media has been far more brutal. "Liz Truss, who's been the British PM for barely six weeks, has managed to drag her party and her country into a debacle the depth of which the country has never before sunk to. And less so at such speed," says an editorial in Colombian daily El Colombiano. Its headline suggests what the PM might be known for: "Liz Truss the Brief?" "Clinging to her ideology, far removed from the reality facing the country, Truss exemplifies to perfection what it means to go against common sense when steering the politics of a country." Meanwhile, the UK is becoming a "cautionary tale" about the effect of "bad politics", said an editorial in Indian daily newspaper The Hindu on Monday. The newspaper - a widely-read English-language paper and generally critical of right-leaning political parties - said Ms Truss was "once seen as a new hope for breathing life back" into the UK Conservative Party. Read: Pound rises against dollar as investors react to UK PM Truss' resignation But now she may have added the "label of 'incompetence' to the Tory governance image", it adds. Russia's media speculates over Ms Truss's future, reporting that she might be out of her post soon. "Embarrassment for Liz", said the state-owned daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday. "Yet another political crisis is looming over Britain: the newly minted prime minister, Liz Truss, may be forced out of her Downing Street residence already in the coming days and weeks," it says. "The Tory leader's unpopularity in party circles and in British society has long been known, but now the [prime] minister has come close to the end of her scandalous career." China's state media also heaped on further criticism. "The outside world does not seem optimistic about the turnaround of the Truss government," said state-run news agency China News Service on Friday. The Global Times said Truss's position remained unstable because of "continued negative reviews". But some online media, including Shenniao Zhixun, a blog run in south-west China, noted that the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, nicknamed "son-in-law of China", had a Chinese wife and "a good attitude towards China". For the Irish Independent, Truss bought herself some time by the change of chancellor. But "once we start writing about a prime minister 'buying some time', or 'seeing off the immediate danger', they are nearing the end of their time," the opinion piece on Sunday adds.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Liz Truss after she was named Britain's next Premier. "Congratulations @trussliz for being chosen to be the next PM of the UK," Modi tweeted, an hour after Truss triumphed Indian-origin Rishi Sunak in the internal leadership race of Britain's ruling Conservative Party. "Confident that under your leadership, the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will be further strengthened. Wish you the very best for your new role and responsibilities," the Prime Minister wrote. Also read: PM Hasina greets new UK Tory leader Lizz Truss Truss will be the third woman to occupy the highest executive post in the UK after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. "We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years. I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy," Truss said, after she was declared the winner. Also read: Liz Truss: UK's incoming PM who models herself on Iron Lady Thatcher "I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply," she added.

Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party's new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office Tuesday as Britain's new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis. The 47-year-old Truss, who is currently foreign secretary, beat former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak after a leadership contest in which only about 170,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss received 81,326 votes, compared with Sunak’s 60,399. She faces immediate pressure to deliver on her promises to tackle the cost-of-living crisis walloping the U.K. and an economy heading into a potentially lengthy recession. Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to formally appoint Truss as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday. The ceremony will take place at the queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, where the monarch is spending her summer, rather than Buckingham Palace in London. Read: Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss to be named as UK's new prime minister The two-month leadership contest left Britain with a power vacuum at a time of growing discontent across the country amid spiraling energy and food costs. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made no major policy decisions since he announced he was stepping down on July 7, and officials insisted that measures to address the energy cost crisis would be deferred until his successor is in place. Meanwhile tens of thousands of workers have gone on strike to demand better pay to keep up with relentlessly rising costs. Inflation is above 10% for the first time since the 1980s, and the Bank of England has forecast that will reach a 42-year high of 13.3% in October. That’s largely driven by soaring energy bills, which will jump 80% for the average household starting next month. “I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply," Truss told party members after she was elected. “I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people: Our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility," she added. “I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019 and as your party leader I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country.” Truss has won the support of many Conservatives with her zeal in rolling back state intervention and slashing taxes. Both she and her rival Sunak have spoken of their admiration for Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, and her free-market, small-government economics. But it's not clear how Truss’s right-wing brand of conservatism, which played so well with party members — who represent far less than 1% of the U.K.'s adult population — will go down with the wider British public, especially those most in need of government relief to afford essentials like heating their homes this winter. Truss has promised to act “immediately” to tackle soaring energy bills, but declined to give any details so far. “The Conservative Party members wanted that message of tax cutting. The country, I would guess, less so,” said Bronwen Maddox, director of London's Chatham House think tank. “At the moment you’ve got people deeply rattled, many very, very afraid going into a year where all they can see are rising costs," Maddox added. "Until she’s got an answer on that, she doesn’t have a claim to the popularity of the country, I think. While the economy is certain to dominate the first months of the new premier’s term, Truss will also have to steer the U.K. on the international stage in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an increasingly assertive China and ongoing tensions with the European Union over the aftermath of Brexit — especially in Northern Ireland. Truss will be the U.K.’s fourth Conservative prime minister in six years, entering Downing Street following Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron. Johnson was forced to resign after a series of ethics scandals that peaked in July, when dozens of cabinet ministers and lower-level officials quit in protest over his handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a senior member of his government. Both Truss and Sunak were key players within Johnson’s Cabinet, though Sunak resigned in the last days of Johnson’s time in office. A Truss government may not sit well with many because it reminds voters too much of Johnson’s misdeeds, said Steven Fielding, a professor of political history at Nottingham University. “She’s basically been elected as Boris Johnson 2.0 by Conservative members — she’s made it very clear that she is a loyal Boris Johnson supporter,” he said. “I think she’s going to find it very difficult to disentangle herself from the whole Johnson shadow.” Truss and Sunak were the final two candidates whittled down from an initial field of 11 leadership hopefuls. Under Britain’s parliamentary system of government, the center-right Conservative Party was allowed to hold an internal election to select a new party leader and prime minister without going to the wider electorate. A new general election isn’t required until December 2024.

The two candidates vying to be Britain’s next prime minister will face off in a TV debate Monday, after both sought to woo the Conservative Party’s right-wing base by backing a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak are battling to succeed the discredited Boris Johnson as head of Britain’s governing party. They were chosen by Conservative lawmakers from an initial field of 11 candidates as finalists to replace Johnson, who quit as party leader on July 7 after months of ethics scandals triggered a mass exodus of ministers from his government. The winner will automatically become prime minister, governing a country of 67 million — but will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative Party members. They will vote over the summer with the result announced Sept. 5. Johnson remains caretaker prime minister until his successor is chosen. Also read: Britain’s Boris Johnson battles to stay as PM amid revolt Truss, 46, and 42-year-old Sunak have wooed Conservatives by doubling down on policies thought to appeal to the Tory grassroots. Both are backing a contentious deal agreed by the Johnson government with Rwanda to send some migrants who arrive in Britain in small boats on a one-way trip to the East African nation. The deportees would be allowed to apply for asylum in Rwanda, not the U.K. The government says the policy will deter people-traffickers from sending migrants on hazardous journeys across the Channel. Political opponents, human rights organizations and even a few Conservative lawmakers say it is immoral, illegal and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The first scheduled deportation flight was grounded after legal rulings last month, and the whole policy is now being challenged in the British courts. Also read: Sunak, Truss emerge as finalists in UK leadership race On Sunday, Sunak said “no options should be off the table” despite questions over the policy’s legality and morality. Truss said she was “determined” to see the Rwanda plan through and raised the possibility of expanding it to additional countries. Truss also said she would expand the size of the U.K. Border Force, while Sunak has suggested housing asylum-seekers on cruise ships. Hard-line policies like the Rwanda plan are less popular with voters as a whole than with Conservatives, but the British electorate won’t get a say on the government until the next national election, due by the end of 2024. Truss and Sunak have already clashed over economic policy, with Truss promising immediate tax cuts and Sunak — who shepherded Britain’s economy through the coronavirus pandemic — saying he will get inflation under control before slashing taxes. He says borrowing more to cut taxes would be “immoral.” The leadership election is taking place during a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine. While many countries are experiencing economic turbulence, in Britain it’s compounded by the country’s departure from the European Union, which has complicated travel and business relations with the U.K.’s biggest trading partner. Both Sunak and Truss are strong supporters of Brexit, which was the signature policy of the Johnson government. But the two have sparred on topics such as policy toward China, with allies of Truss accusing Sunak of changing his stance on relations with Beijing. Sunak says China represents the “biggest-long term threat to Britain,” and says that if elected he would close the 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain. Funded by the Chinese government, the institutes teach Chinese language and culture, but have been accused of spreading pro-Beijing propaganda. Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, a longtime China critic who backs Truss, said Sunak’s Treasury had previously “pushed hard for an economic deal with China.” “Where have you been over the last two years?” he said.