Outgoing British Prime Minister Liz Truss made history last Thursday when she resigned after just 44 days. She will be the shortest serving premier in that country’s history, and her tenure will be remembered as the most chaotic. The previous holder of the ‘shortest tenure’ record was George Canning who stayed 119 days in office in the early 19th Century. And his tenure was reportedly cut short by death.
Ms. Truss holds a few other records. She is the last premier to be appointed by the late Queen Elizabeth II and the first resignee of King Charles III’s reign. The 96-year-old queen who oversaw 15 prime ministers in her 70-year reign died three days after tapping Truss. Besides, Truss holds the record of having two Chancellors of the Exchequer (British finance minister) serve in quick successions. Her first chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced unfunded tax cuts of 45billion pounds that sent government’s borrowing cost spiralling, compelled emergency intervention by the Central Bank of England, and elicited a reprimand from the International Monetary Fund (MF). The British market was so spoofed that the pound crashed. Kwarteng was dismissed after 38 days in the post, making him the second shortest-serving Chancellor after Iain Macleod who died a month into office.
Read Also:Liz Truss believed in markets, but the markets did not believe in her
Another record by Truss is, she is the fastest to lose premiership authority. Jeremy Hunt, who replaced Kwarteng, U-turned nearly all of the controversial policies. But despite volte-face, Britain yet grapples with the fallout from the economic plan, with inflation at record level and mortgage rates ballooned. Consequently, Truss’s personal approval rating fell to minus 70, according to pollsters at YouGov, making her the most unpopular party leader in British history. She is also the fastest to change her mind about holding onto office. Her resignation came barely 24 hours after she told parliament she was “a fighter, not a quitter.”
Truss succeeded Boris Johnson, who was also pressured out of office, by winning a contest to lead the ruling Conservative Party. In Britain’s unwritten Constitution, the leader of the party with most seats in the House of Commons gets invited to form government. Hence, the election of Truss was by the Conservatives and not the British electorate. Now the Conservatives are searching for their fifth leader in six years – an indication of how tumultuous British politics has gotten since the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union (Brexit). Meanwhile, opposition Labour Party has soared in opinion polls and its leader, Keir Starmer, called for national election in a statement shortly after Truss resigned. “The British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos,” he said.