PremiumLiz Truss Resigns Live Updates: British Prime Minister Liz Truss today dramatically announced her resignation just six weeks after taking office. Speaking in Downing Street, the UK PM said she would stay on as prime minister until a successor is chosen to serve as Tory leader.
After Truss' resignation, the process has begun to find a new UK prime minister. While Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are the likely contenders, some media reports stated that Boris Johnson could also be in the PM's race.
According to BBC news, those putting their hat in the ring will need the support of at least 100 Tory MPs, meaning there can only be a maximum of three candidates.
Johnson, who is on holiday in the Caribbean, was forced to resign as Conservative leader in July following a string of scandals.
But now a handful of his supporters are pressing the former PM to make a comeback. On the other hand, Sunak who lost to Truss is aiming to win this time.
Noting that the free trade agreements with the UK are well on track, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India will wait for the change in leadership before formulating a strategy.
"We will have to wait and see whether they have a quick change of leadership. Let's see who comes into the government and what their views are. It's only after that we'll be able to formulate a strategy vis a vis the UK," Goyal said.
So far, no MPs have publicly confirmed they are running, but names including former chancellor Rishi Sunak, and the leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, have been touted.
Both Sunak and Mordaunt ran against Truss when their parties were deciding who should replace Boris Johnson. Johnson has also expected to stand in the nomination queue for the next British PM.
After Liz Truss unceremonious exit as UK's prime minister with 45 days of taking oath candidates have a couple of days to gather the support of MPs
Nominations will close at 2pm on Monday and candidates are expected to have backing of at least 100 MPs to run
Nobody has declared their intention to run yet - but Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are seen as contenders
Sources close to former PM Boris Johnson do not confirm or deny speculation that he is interested in the race
Truss resigned as PM on Thursday and speaking outside Downing Street, she said she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected
UK's Conservative Party is desperate to draw a line under Liz Truss’s disastrous premiership, with a rapid leadership contest aimed at trying to give the winner a shot at overturning an unprecedented deficit in the polls.
Supporters of Johnson said they were holding conversations with Tory MPs on Thursday night to gauge his chances, while saying the former premier -- whose scandal-ridden tenure was ended by an unprecedented exodus of ministers -- had not made a final decision on whether to run.
Even if he doesn’t run, Johnson’s backers could yet derail the prospects of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who was runner-up to Truss last time and his reputation has since been enhanced by the prescience of his dire warnings about her economic policies. But he is loathed by many MPs loyal to Johnson, who blame him for triggering the former premier’s demise in July.
‘Bring Back Boris’ Supporters Call for Johnson’s UK Comeback
Johnson is still popular with grassroots Tory members and would likely be confident of winning if he could make the final two. But the threshold of 100 backers looks challenging, given many MPs have not forgiven him for bringing the party into disrepute. He also faces a parliamentary probe into whether he lied over the lawbreaking parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic.
If a Johnson return fills many Tory MPs with horror, moderates and centrists in the party were robbed of a potential candidate when Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, who was parachuted in to replace Kwasi Kwarteng last week to try to calm financial markets, ruled himself out on Thursday.
Hunt has ripped up most of Truss’s plans and restored some order to markets. But he has also put the Tories on the politically dangerous path of punishing austerity, and is due to make a full fiscal statement on Oct. 31.
Liz Truss took office last month with hopes and promises of reinvigorating the British economy and putting it on the path to long-term success.
It didn't go to plan.
Instead, Truss’ tenure was scarred by turmoil as her economic policies threatened the country’s financial stability, driving the pound to record lows, sparking chaos on bond markets and increasing mortgage costs for millions of people.
Though Truss took office amid a cost-of-living crisis, the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, her decision to announce 105 billion pounds ($116 billion) of tax cuts and spending increases without providing details on how she would pay for it unnerved investors, who warned of soaring public debt.
That undermined confidence in the government’s ability to pay its bills and raised questions about the economic credentials of a new prime minister.
The Conservative Party is desperate to draw a line under Liz Truss’s disastrous premiership, with a rapid leadership contest aimed at trying to give the winner a shot at overturning an unprecedented deficit in the polls.
Under rules announced Thursday, a maximum of three Tory MPs will be able to run. The next leader could be decided as soon as Monday.
Tory has set rules for the next UK Premier after Liz Truss quit on Thursday.
-Contenders for the UK PM post will need the backing of 100 Tory lawmakers to get on the ballot, Graham Brady, the Member of Parliament who heads the panel that sets rules on leadership contests, told reporters on Thursday. There are 357 Conservative MPs, so a maximum of three of them will be able to run.
-Nominations close on Monday, when the ballot that is necessary to whittle the field down to a final two will also be conducted, Brady said. That will leave a final two. An indicative vote will then be taken among MPs, before the candidates are put to grassroots members in a deciding online ballot, with the result due to be announced on Oct. 28.
-The outcome of the first ballot of MPs will be announced at 6 pm on Monday. If an indicative vote is needed, the result would be announced at 9 pm
A national newspaper on Thursday declared a lettuce the victor in a race to see if it could outlast Liz Truss, after the under-fire prime minister resigned.
The tabloid Daily Star set up a live feed on Friday showing the unrefrigerated iceberg next to a photo of Truss, asking readers: "Which wet lettuce will last longer?"
It later expanded the tableau, adding a wig, a face and grasping hands to the vegetable, as well as two British flags, a pasty on a plate and a red mug bearing the legend "Keep Calm and Carry On", a slogan used to raise morale in Britain during World War Two.
Talks on free trade agreements between India and Britain remain on track, and India will "wait and watch" the situation following the change in British leadership, India's trade minister said on Thursday.
India and Britain launched negotiations in January this year for a pact that aims to double bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030.
The London stock market and the pound bounced on Thursday after British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation following disastrous policies that rocked the markets for weeks.
The pound briefly surged more than one percent against the dollar to $1.1336 after Truss ended six tumultuous weeks in power -- but analysts said gains were pared by the ongoing uncertainty.
The FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 percent while the country's borrowing costs eased on the news, as the yield on 30-year government bonds, known as gilts, fell to 3.85 percent.
Canada's main stock index reversed early losses today, as strong gains in energy and mining firms countered interest rate jitters and market uncertainty caused by the resignation of Liz Truss as UK's prime minister.
The United States and Britain are enduring allies, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday after British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation.
"The United States and the United Kingdom are strong Allies and enduring friends — and that fact will never change. I thank Prime Minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of issues including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine. We will continue our close cooperation with the U.K. government as we work together to meet the global challenges our nations face," Biden said in a statement.
Former finance minister Rishi Sunak is "certain to stand" in the contest to succeed Prime Minister Liz Truss, a reporter at the Telegraph newspaper said on Thursday citing people familiar with the developments.
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 Kwasi Kwarteng and unveiled without any independent analysis of how it would be funded.
Read a detailed analysis of the situation here
"Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister.", Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said after Liz Truss announces her resignation as the Prime Minister of Britain
The former International Trade Secretary, during Boris Johnson govt always batted for strong bilateral ties with India. Liz Truss had earlier described India as a "big, major opportunity" and believes the UK and India are "in a sweet spot of the trade dynamics that are building up."
However, Truss quit office after a 45-day stint, without pursuing the ongoing FTA negotiations towards a year-end deadline as a major post-Brexit achievement for UK.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will not stand for leadership of the Conservative Party after Prime Minister Liz Truss said she would step down, Bloomberg quoted a spokesman
Reuters reported that Liz Truss' predecessor Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the Tory leadership contest to replace Truss as Prime Minister
UK Conservative Party official has said that the election for next British Prime Minister will be held by 28 October
Top names to replace outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss include Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, and Ben Wallace.
Considering the divisions in the Conservative party there is no evident candidate. However, any replacement would face a country likely heading into a recession.
Read more about the probable replacements for Truss here
Truss was hanging on to power by a thread on Thursday, after a senior minister quit her government with a barrage of criticism and a no confidence vote in the House of Commons descended into chaos and acrimony.
Truss' resignation comes after her economic policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.
The crisis began when the Bank of England was forced into emergency bond-buying to stem a sharp sell-off in Britain's 2.1 trillion pound ($2.3 trillion) government bond market that threatened to wreak havoc in the pension industry and increase recession risks
Read the key points to this big story here
"I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party." Truss said in her resignation speech.
Read full text of her speech here
Truss said she would stay on as prime minister until a successor is chosen to serve as Tory leader.
"We've agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week," she said, after senior backbench MP Graham Brady told her the game was up.
Truss, 47, resigned after a brief and chaotic tenure that saw her announce a massive package of unfunded tax cuts before unwinding most of it in the face of a market rout.
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