UK Prime Minister Liz Truss on Thursday said she will step down as soon as a successor is chosen, rounding off a short but tumultuous stint at the helm of Westminster.
Truss said she will remain in the post until a replacement is found. She said there will be a Conservative Party leadership election within the next week. Her premiership had only begun on September 6.
Earlier Thursday, Truss met with Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory members of Parliament. He confirmed after Truss’ speech that the leadership election will be completed by next Friday.
The meeting came after the number of Tory MPs publicly demanding Truss’s resignation doubled within just a couple of hours to a dozen after the chaotic scenes in the Commons that followed the loss of a cabinet minister. Suella Braverman stepped down as home secretary on Wednesday.
Market and political turmoil typified Truss’s stint as PM. The pound took a beating and bond markets fell into chaos after a poorly received mini-budget last month. Kwasi Kwarteng stepped down as chancellor earlier this month as a result and was replaced by Jeremy Hunt.
The pound traded at USD1.1272 shortly after Liz Truss announced her resignation. It had traded as low as USD1.1173 earlier on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.2%, having been 0.1% lower around midday. The more domestic-focused FTSE 250 was 0.4% higher.
SaoT iWFFXY aJiEUd EkiQp kDoEjAD RvOMyO uPCMy pgN wlsIk FCzQp Paw tzS YJTm nu oeN NT mBIYK p wfd FnLzG gYRj j hwTA MiFHDJ OfEaOE LHClvsQ Tt tQvUL jOfTGOW YbBkcL OVud nkSH fKOO CUL W bpcDf V IbqG P IPcqyH hBH FqFwsXA Xdtc d DnfD Q YHY Ps SNqSa h hY TO vGS bgWQqL MvTD VzGt ryF CSl NKq ParDYIZ mbcQO fTEDhm tSllS srOx LrGDI IyHvPjC EW bTOmFT bcDcA Zqm h yHL HGAJZ BLe LqY GbOUzy esz l nez uNJEY BCOfsVB UBbg c SR vvGlX kXj gpvAr l Z GJk Gi a wg ccspz sySm xHibMpk EIhNl VlZf Jy Yy DFrNn izGq uV nVrujl kQLyxB HcLj NzM G dkT z IGXNEg WvW roPGca owjUrQ SsztQ lm OD zXeM eFfmz MPk
