Liz Truss has announced she will resign as prime minister, just six weeks after she took office.
Speaking in Downing Street on Thursday afternoon, Truss said her successor would be in place within a week following a leadership election.
“Given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” she said.
Truss quit after weeks of chaos which saw her abandon her entire economic agenda, market turmoil and tanking Tory poll ratings.
Conservative MPs, aghast at the plight of the party, had been organising against her.
In a short speech outside No.10, Truss said she would remain as PM until the new leader has been chosen.
Truss will be the shortest serving prime minister in British history – having currently clocked up just 44 full days in the role.
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said there should be a general election “now”.
“The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people,” he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also demanded a general election. “We don’t need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis,” he said.
