Category: World News

Liz Truss has resigned as Britain’s prime minister after a disastrous six-week tenure.

Truss is set to become the UK’s shortest-serving leader ever, with another Conservative leadership election due to take place within a week.

Her announcement in Downing Street came hours after Suella Braverman, Truss’ home secretary, dramatically resigned with a blistering attack on the PM’s leadership.

Truss fired her finance minister just last week after a disastrous and since-ditched financial plan caused turmoil on the markets.

How Truss destroyed her own premiership within weeks

Liz Truss’s resignation brings to an ignominious end her catastrophic tenure in Downing Street, which appeared doomed ever since Truss’s flagship economic agenda sent markets into panic and led to a fall in the value of the pound.

She won support from Conservatives members by promising low-tax, pro-growth policies – derided by her critics as a lurch towards trickle-down economics – but within weeks of coming to power she disavowed the plans in a humiliating pivot, firing her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and ditching virtually all of the fiscal agenda in the wake of a market backlash.

It came after investors rejected an announcement by the Truss government in late September that it would slash taxes while ramping up borrowing in a bid to produce faster growth, citing concerns that the plan would push up inflation just as the Bank of England wants to bring it down.

Fears also crept in about the sustainability of government debt at a time of rapidly rising interest rates.

The pound crashed to a record low against the US dollar, while bond prices slumped, sending yields soaring. That pushed mortgage rates much higher, and brought some pensions funds to the brink of default.

The Bank of England was forced to announce three separate interventions to avoid a full-scale meltdown in the UK government bond market.

Truss meanwhile failed to regain control of an increasingly mutinous Conservative Party, and her Home Secretary Suella Braverman launched a blistering attack on her leadership after leaving the role on Wednesday.

A final chaotic display saw Truss allies accused of manhandling lawmakers to force them to vote against a fracking ban on Wednesday evening.

Truss departure plunges Britain deeper into chaos

Liz Truss’s departure ensures a fresh power struggle within the ruling Conservative Party, which has hemorrhaged public support for the past year and has now overthrown Boris Johnson and Truss in the space of a few months.

A trickle of Conservative MPs called on her to go and Truss ultimately bowed to the pressure on Thursday.

Britain now faces the prospect of a third different leader entering office since its last general election, an unprecedented scenario in modern peacetime that will lead to serious questions about the mandate of the government and increase a growing clamor for a fresh vote.

It is a spectacular fall from grace for a party that won a landslide victory under Johnson in a December 2019 election that was won on the then-leader’s promise to deliver Brexit.

A new leadership contest will take place on an expedited timetable soon, with Truss saying a new leader will be chosen within a week. Figures who could be in the running include Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who lost to Truss during the summer race; Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons who was second in the leadership contest behind Sunak until Truss overtook them both in the final round of voting; and Jeremy Hunt, the current finance minister who Truss turned to after sacking Kwarteng on Friday.

And a potential return to frontline politics for Boris Johnson has not been ruled out, with some of Johnson’s allies in the Commons claiming in recent weeks that moving to remove him was a mistake.

Liz Truss will become Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister ever

Liz Truss said outside Downing Street that she “set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.”

“I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party,” she said.

Truss said she has tendered her resignation to the King, and a leadership election will take place within a week.

That timeline would make her, by some distance, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister ever.

 

Liz Truss is set to become Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister ever, after announcing her intention to resign just six weeks into a disastrous term.

Downing Street to make statement

Liz Truss is expected to give a statement in Downing Street amid calls for her to resign as Britain’s prime minister after a disastrous six-week tenure.

Truss earlier met with the chair of the 1922 Committee of the backbench Conservatives, Graham Brady, Downing Street said on Thursday, according to PA Media. The group decides whether to call a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

Truss’s government was earlier told it had “12 hours” to “turn the ship around” by Conservative lawmaker Simon Hoare, after a vote on whether to ban controversial fracking for shale gas descended into chaos.

Lawmakers reported that aides for Truss manhandled MPs into the voting lobby to force them to vote against the ban. The government initially presented the vote as a confidence motion in Truss’s government, but confusion remains about whether it was. A Downing Street spokesperson said on Thursday that Conservative lawmakers who didn’t participate in Wednesday evening’s vote will face disciplinary action, PA Media said.

(CNN)

Princes William and Harry, and their wives Kate and Meghan, have met crowds in Windsor. They collected floral tributes and spoke to some of those who had gathered to pay their respects.

The Queen’s funeral will be held in Westminster Abbey on Monday 19 September. She will lie in state for four days beforehand and mourners will be able to pay their respects.

Tomorrow, the Queen’s coffin will be taken from Balmoral to Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh – Princess Anne will travel with it.

The Queen’s coffin is in Balmoral, but soon will embark on its journey to the nation’s capital ahead of her state funeral on Monday 19 September.

People will be given the chance to pay their respects to the Queen, as her body will be placed in the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Westminster Hall for people to see her coffin – a tradition known as lying in state.

Earlier today, Charles III was proclaimed king at an elaborate ceremony in London.

King Charles III will also embark on a tour of all four nations that make up the UK.

(BBC)

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

Her family gathered at her Scottish estate after concerns grew about her health earlier on Thursday.

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.

With her death, her eldest son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, will lead the country in mourning as the new King and head of state for 14 Commonwealth realms.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

“The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

All the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after doctors placed the Queen under medical supervision.

Her grandson, Prince William, is also there, with his brother, Prince Harry, on his way.

Queen Elizabeth II’s tenure as head of state spanned post-war austerity, the transition from empire to Commonwealth, the end of the Cold War and the UK’s entry into – and withdrawal from – the European Union.

Her reign spanned 15 prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and including Liz Truss, born 101 years later in 1975, and appointed by the Queen earlier this week.

She held weekly audiences with her prime minister throughout her reign.

At Buckingham Palace in London, crowds awaiting updates on the Queen’s condition began crying as they heard of her death. The Union flag on top of the palace was lowered to half-mast at 18:30 BST.

The Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, in Mayfair, London, on 21 April 1926.

Few could have foreseen she would become monarch but in December 1936 her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated from the throne to marry the twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson.

Elizabeth’s father became King George VI and, at age 10, Lilibet, as she was known in the family, became heir to the throne.

Within three years, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, spent much of wartime at Windsor Castle after their parents rejected suggestions they be evacuated to Canada.

After turning 18, Elizabeth spent five months with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and learned basic motor mechanic and driving skills. “I began to understand the esprit de corps that flourishes in the face of adversity,” she recalled later.

Through the war, she exchanged letters with her third cousin, Philip, Prince of Greece, who was serving in the Royal Navy. Their romance blossomed and the couple married at Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947, with the prince taking the title of Duke of Edinburgh.

She would later describe him as “my strength and stay” through 74 years of marriage, before his death in 2021, aged 99.

Their first son, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by Princess Anne, in 1950, Prince Andrew, in 1960, and Prince Edward, in 1964. Between them, they gave their parents eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya in 1952, representing the ailing King, when Philip broke the news that her father had died. She immediately returned to London as the new Queen.

“It was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can,” she later recalled.

Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, aged 27, in front of a then-record TV audience estimated at more than 20 million people.

Subsequent decades would see great change, with the end of the British Empire overseas and the swinging ’60s sweeping away social norms at home.

(BBC)

Shinzo Abe: Killing of Japan’s ex-PM described as ‘barbaric’

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has died in hospital after he was shot at a political campaign event, say local media.

Mr Abe was shot at twice while he was giving a speech in the southern city of Nara on Friday morning.

He immediately collapsed and was rushed to the nearest hospital. Pictures taken at the scene showed him bleeding.

Security officials at the scene tackled the gunman, and the 41-year-old suspect is now in police custody.

In an emotional press conference earlier, prime minister Fumio Kishida condemned the attack, saying: “It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated.”

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency had earlier confirmed that Mr Abe had a bullet wound on the right of his neck, and also suffered subcutaneous bleeding under the left part of his chest.

It is unclear if both shots hit him, or if a bullet hit him on the neck and travelled elsewhere.

Mr Abe was said to be conscious and responsive in the minutes after the attack, but the 67-year-old’s situation later deteriorated and he had to receive a blood transfusion in hospital, according to reports.

Mr Abe was giving a stump speech for a political candidate in Nara at a road junction when the attack happened.

Eyewitnesses said they saw a man carrying what they described as a large gun and firing twice at Mr Abe from behind.

Security officers detained the attacker, who made no attempt to run, and seized his weapon which was reportedly a handmade gun.

The suspect has been identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami. Local media reports say he is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy.

Mr Abe’s speech came as part of a campaign for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, as upper house elections in Japan are due to take place later this week.

Ministers across the country were later told to return to Tokyo immediately, according to local reports.

On Japanese social media, the hashtag “We want democracy, not violence” was trending, with many social media users expressing their horror and disgust towards the incident.

(BBC)