Liz Truss resigns as UK PM after 45 days in office

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned — bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.

She said “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected.”

Just a day earlier Truss had vowed to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.”

But Truss left Thursday after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies and lost control of Conservative Party discipline.

Her departure leaves a divided party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions.

Truss announced on Thursday she was quitting after just 45 days in No10, becoming Britain’s shortest serving Prime Minister.

Speaking in Downing Street at around 1.30pm, she told the nation she was resigning after an open revolt by Tory MPs against her chaotic and crisis-hit premiership.

She announced she was going after holding talks with Sir Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, and her closest allies, Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey and Tory chairman Jake Berry.

The Conservatives now faced a race to choose a new leader, with the party bitterly divided, with frontrunners including ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

More than 15 MPs had by 1.15pm publicly called on Ms Truss to quit.

--Agencies