Liz Truss has announced her resignation as prime minister just 45 days into the job, leaving her the shortest-lived occupant of 10 Downing Street in British history.
Ms Truss’s disastrous reign began on 6 September, encompassed the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but will be remembered for Kwasi Kwarteng’s wildly misguided tax-slashing, heavy-borrowing “min-Budget”.
The uncosted Truss-Kwarteng fiscal programme only served to spook global financial markets, tank the pound, prompt a warning from the IMF and forced the Bank of England to bailout pension funds by buying up government debt to the tune of £65bn.
A number of embarrassing U-turns followed, the chancellor was sacked on 14 October after being humiliated on the world stage with an early recall from a meeting in Washington, DC, to be replaced by Jeremy Hunt, who went on to tear up the rest of the Budget and, with it, Ms Truss’s slim credibility as leader.
The resignation of home secretary Suella Braverman followed five days later along with an unedifying melee in the Commons during a vote on fracking, prompting many Tories to call time on the former foreign secretary’s blunder-ridden tenure.
Following her resignation announcement on Thursday lunchtime, her rivals have begun to weigh up fresh leadership bids, with Mr Hunt and Michael Gove quick to rule themselves out and Boris Johnson just as fast to let it be known that he is interested in an unlikely, Berlusconi-esque comeback.
The bookies’ early favourites, meanwhile, appear to be Rishi Sunak, who was so right about Ms Truss’s “fairy tale” tax follies and who likewise appears keen, along with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and defence secretary Ben Wallace.
While details are scant so far on how the process will play out, Ms Truss said in her statement – which followed a private meeting with 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady – that a new prime minister would be in place by the end of next week.
Sir Graham has since elaborated that that means Friday 28 October.
“We are deeply conscious of the imperative in the national interest in resolving this quickly,” he told reporters in Westminster.
“I have spoken to the party chairman Jake Berry and he has confirmed that it will be possible to conduct a ballot and conclude a leadership election by Friday 28 October.
“So we should have a new leader in place before the fiscal statement which will take place on the 31.”
After a tiresome and drawn-out contest in July and August in which a huge field was eventually whittled down by MPs to just two – Ms Truss and Mr Sunak – before the party membership voted, this next attempt promises to be a much simpler and swifter affair.
However, a scaled-back approach risks angering the party base by denying it a say in proceedings this time around.
Sir Graham has indicated that he expects the contest to be a two-horse race, although exactly who is serious about entering remains to be seen, and more details are expected on Thursday evening.
If the Conservatives cannot find themselves a unity candidate within a week, however, the clamour for a general election is likely to grow ever-louder.
