UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Announces Resignation After 44 Days; Shortest Serving PM In History

Truss's approval rate had fallen to... this can't be right.

8%? Eight percent? Are you kidding me?

Her downfall was calling for a big supply-side tax cut during a period of high inflation. She also apparently failed to secure wide political buy-in for this tax cut, even among her own party members.

This provoked a crisis in confidence in the pound requiring the Bank of England to step in.

The central mistake of Truss’s term was a massive £45 billion ($50 billion) package of tax cuts, amid the strongest inflation in four decades, that she drew up with Kwarteng and unveiled without any independent analysis of how it would be funded.

The biggest tax giveaway in half a century went further and faster than Truss had signaled during the leadership contest, and the markets reacted violently amid fears it would hamper the battle against inflation and destabilize the public finances. The pound's tumble to an all-time low against the dollar and the imminent threat of a rout in gilts forced the Bank of England to intervene to prevent a key part of the pensions industry from collapsing.

Apparently she then attempted to reassert her authority over her fractious party through a series of forced votes. While she barely prevailed, the conservatives had already gotten sick of her, and it was time for her to go.

Various figures have stepped forward to announce they will stand for election as PM -- including Boris Johnson, who just exited the job... 44 days ago. He is considered one of the top contenders for the job. If you remember, he was tossed for... what was it, having a bunch of parties during lockdown and lying about it, or Some Old Bullsh*t like that.

Seems pretty silly, what, with the perspective of looking back with 44 days' distance.

Also announcing that she'll run for PM, as she did last time, is Kemi Badenoch, who is absolutely hated by the left, because she's a woman, she's based as hell, and she's black.

I don't expect the staid and also not-really-conservative Conservatives to pick her, alas.

The left is demanding that general elections be held -- an election of parliament members, not just an election of a PM by parliament members -- which the Conservatives will resist, because, supposedly, they'd be absolutely trounced by the left if general elections were held right now.

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

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