Curtains for Liz Truss

ByHoor Asrar Rauf

A national swimming champion and recently Graduated from UCF-USA in Hospitality and Event Management

Dated

October 22, 2022

Liz Truss

Hoor Asrar Discusses The Failed Liz Truss Career Of A Promising Politician

Liz Truss came from behind to claim the prized office of the prime minister of the UK and despite being a turncoat (she began he career as a social democrat) was accepted as the leader of the Conservative Party. However, as the proverbial greasy pole is somehow reached but it is very difficult to stay there and she could hardly manage to do so barely for 44 days consequently she entered the history books as the prime minister with the shortest tenure, replacing George Canning who had held the role for 119 days when he died in 1827.

George Canning had earlier missed the chance to come to India as governor general as the then incumbent British foreign secretary lord Castlereagh committed suicide making Canning replace him. In the next generation, George Canning’s son ‘Carlo’ Canning did come to India as governor-general and faced the 1857 mutiny and owing to his pacifist attitude was dubbed as clemency Canning.

Liz Truss quit on Thursday after the shortest, most chaotic tenure of any British prime minister, forced out after her economic program shattered the country’s reputation for financial stability and left many people poorer. The Conservative Party, which holds a big majority in parliament and need not call a nationwide election for another two years will now elect a new leader by 28 October – Britain’s fifth prime minister in six years.

In her parting speech, she accepted that she had lost the faith of her party and would step down next week. In the end, she was supported only by her husband with her aides and loyal ministers noticeably absent, and to make matters more painful for her the British pound rallied as she spoke. Allied leaders said they would continue to work with her successor and emphasized the importance of stability.

Truss Conservative Party

Liz Truss was elected in September to lead the Conservative Party by its members, not the broader electorate, and with support from only around a third of the party’s lawmakers. She had promised tax cuts funded by borrowing, deregulation, and a sharp shift to the right on cultural and social issues. But within weeks she was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic program after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and sent British borrowing costs and mortgage rates soaring. Approval ratings for her and the party collapsed.

On Wednesday she lost the second of the government’s four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament, and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster. New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of savings to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain’s fiscal reputation. With the economy heading into recession and inflation running at a 40-year high, millions of Britons are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. Hunt, who has ruled himself out of the leadership race, is due to deliver a new budget on 31 October that is likely to cut spending on public services that are already showing clear signs of strain.

One of the most contentious issues facing the Conservatives is how they elect a new leader after the party’s 170,000 members chose Liz Truss over the wishes of its elected lawmakers at Westminster. Groups within the party have battled over the direction of the country since the Brexit vote. In previous contests, the candidates were whittled down to two through a number of lawmaker votes over weeks, before the membership selected the winner.

Liz Truss Conservative Lawmaker

Many Conservative lawmakers say that cannot be allowed to happen again. Organizers said that any candidate would need the backing of 100 lawmakers and that if only one candidate passes that threshold by 2 pm on Monday they will automatically become prime minister. If two candidates remain, party members will get an online vote.

Among those expected to run for the role is Rishi Sunak, who was proved right in his warnings that Truss’s fiscal plan threatened the economy but he remains deeply unpopular with some Conservatives after he helped to trigger the summer rebellion against Johnson. Penny Mordaunt a popular former defense minister, could also run, with other possible hopefuls such as Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary who quit on Wednesday, and trade minister Kemi Badenoch unlikely to reach the 100 nominations.

Johnson, who still faces an investigation into whether he misled parliament after he and his staff held a string of parties during COVID-19 lockdowns may also be a candidate. The face of the 2016 Brexit campaign has loomed large over politics since he became London mayor in 2008. He led his party to a landslide election victory in 2019 but was driven out of office in July by colleagues who were disgusted by his conduct. A poll of party members earlier this week showed most wanted Johnson to return, but betting odds put Sunak as the favorite, ahead of Mordaunt, defense minister Ben Wallace and Johnson. The Weekender

Share

MOST READ
The writ of international law
The writ of international law
M Ali Siddiqi looks at a crucial...
Resurgence of fascism
Resurgence of fascism
M Ali Siddiqi describes a dangerous...
President Xi Jinping
XI on his way to ruling China for life
M Ali Siddiqi talks about apparent...
Governance and equitable distribution of resources
Governance and equitable distribution of resources
M Ali Siddiqi talks about Governance...
The Need For Pakistan
The Need For Pakistan
M A Siddiqi expresses surprise...
The Presence And Essence Of Pakistaniat
The Presence And Essence Of Pakistaniat
M Ali Siddiqi describes a strong...

Get Newsletters

Career

Subscribe Us