Politics
Twitter Has Erupted Over Liz Truss Resigning After Just 44 Days
“Her reign was shorter than a series of Love Island.”
Cementing her place as the nation’s shortest-serving Prime Minister since records began, Liz Truss has resigned, just 44 days into her tenure. The Conservative MP won the top job on Sept. 6, but rapidly lost the trust of her own party after plunging the markets into economic turmoil. Her ill-fated mini-budget on Sept. 23 proposed huge, unprecedented tax cuts for the wealthiest in UK society without elaborating on how they would be funded, and her plans sent the pound plummeting to a record low. Truss later U-Turned on virtually every aspect of her mini-budget, and fired her first Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, but deep-reaching and permanent damage was already done.
Though Truss later appointed Jeremy Hunt as her new Chancellor, his complete departure from all of the Prime Minister’s key political goals in his own medium-term fiscal plan raised serious questions about Truss’ mandate to govern. Since then, Westminster has been in a state of political chaos, and by Oct. 19, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Truss.
First, her Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned. Later that evening, a vote on banning fracking — a highly controversial method for harvesting gas and oil — descended into chaos. There were allegations of bullying and “man-handling” being levelled at Tory whips and ministers as they attempted to persuade undecided Conservative MPs to vote with the government. Multiple Tory MPs began calling for a General Election and openly criticised their own leader. Senior MP Charles Walker told journalists he was “livid” and labelled events an “'absolute disgrace.”
In a brief statement outside Downing Street on Oct 20, Truss confirmed that she has resigned as Prime Minister, and a week-long Leadership Election within the Conservative Party will follow. “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss said. “I have therefore spoken to His Majesty The King to notify him that I am resigning as Leader of the Conservative Party.”
Social media is absolutely ablaze with users reacting to the announcement with bemusement and shock. Not to mention a decent portion of people celebrating the fact that a lettuce has officially outlasted Truss. See our pick of the best online reactions, below.
