UK prime minister Truss quits after turmoil obliterated her authority

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss addresses the media in Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Truss says she resigns as leader of UK Conservative Party. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)


British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday — 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 couldn’t hold on any longer after a senior minister quit her government with a barrage of criticism and a vote in the House of Commons descended into chaos and acrimony just days after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies.