from the it's-OK,-she-hasn't-finished-unpacking-yet dept.
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns after failed budget and market turmoil
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday following a failed tax-cutting budget that rocked financial markets and which led to a revolt within her own Conservative Party.
Truss said in a statement outside Downing Street: "We set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit."
"I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to announce that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party."
The party is now due to complete a leadership election within the next week, faster than the usual two-month period. Graham Brady, the Conservative politician that is in charge of leadership votes and reshuffles, told reporters he was now looking at how the vote could include Conservative MPs and the wider party members.
Truss was in office for just 44 days, on 10 of which government business was paused following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Live updates: BBC, The Guardian, CNN, NYT.
Liz Truss resigns as prime minister after Tory revolt
Liz Truss: UK prime minister resignation speech in full
Pound rallies as Liz Truss announces resignation
Liz Truss (Wikipedia).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:00PM (2 children)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/liz-truss-fighter-not-quitter-quote-b2206029.html [independent.co.uk]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:23PM (1 child)
She fights dumb, but not hard.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:45PM
Fought, I'd say more to the point: she blows (blew?) hard.
In the voice of Andrew Dice Clay:
Liz Tory blew, she wanted the money.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:28PM (3 children)
Prime Minister of UK...
When did that happen? I must have blinked. /s
Yet, despite this, she will be eligible for a lifetime £115,000 annual allowance.
From: https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-truss-eligible-allowance-prime-minister-resignation-uk-2022-10 [businessinsider.com]
She must had some hefty expenses in her
44, err 34 days.Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 5, Funny) by Opportunist on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:44PM (2 children)
I think the unemployment problem of Britain could be solved by simply having every other unemployable dimwit serve as prime minister for a few days.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:15PM (1 child)
Isn't that already pretty much the strategy of the Conservative Party?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday October 20 2022, @07:09PM
You might be onto something here.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday October 20 2022, @02:53PM (23 children)
I'm a fan of the Westminster system. Here is an example of someone who is not suitable for the PM role, and the system is set up to not support them.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:06PM (14 children)
The previous PM was suitable, really?
(Score: 4, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:18PM (13 children)
He gave the UK the freedom of Brexit to be out from under the boot of Brussels. That alone should memorize him for all time.
(Score: -1, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:19PM
*memoralize
(Score: 5, Insightful) by HiThere on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:33PM (3 children)
Well, yes. But not in a positive way.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: -1, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Thursday October 20 2022, @08:50PM (2 children)
found the eurotrash
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @03:02PM (1 child)
It's not terribly good form to insult people just because you disagree with them. You undermine the arguments you put forwards, which is unfortunate.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by HammeredGlass on Friday October 21 2022, @03:18PM
I can say what I please, so fuck you.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Thursday October 20 2022, @10:10PM (1 child)
Mmm, yes,
freedomfreedumb. Freedumb to watch their country spiral down the drain.Just like the freedumb we have here in the States!
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: -1, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Thursday October 20 2022, @10:59PM
All the while sending billions to corrupt fascist countries like Ukraine and the State of Israel to make ever more war, agreeing to job killing deals with China to eliminate that "awful" middle class, begging OPEC to hold off on those productions cuts until after the midterms, hiding in the basement, and all of this given to us by Delaware, the most corrupt State in the Union, cuz Warren G. Harding ain't got nothing on The Big Guy.
btw, tell me you're a sardine without telling me you're a sardine. I'm looking forward to the melting of all of the polar ice as it means the stinking megalopolis on the coasts will finally not smell like piss anymore.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday October 21 2022, @10:47AM (5 children)
So help me understand something: Explain in practical terms how Brexit helped the UK as a nation or its citizens. Not in the "it's the principle of the thing" sense, but pounds and pence, paperwork, job numbers, that sort of thing.
Because as far as I can tell watching from across the pond, the Brexiters promised UK citizens that they'd get all the alleged benefits of Brexit, while
CameronMayJohnsonTruss[whoever is next] would negotiate a deal with the EU or its member states to eliminate all the predicted drawbacks of Brexit like less freedom of travel and less freedom to work in the EU for UK citizens. This fell apart due to a very simple reason, namely the EU said "no" to giving the UK basically all of the benefits of EU membership without any of the obligations. Which makes perfect sense when you realize that the EU without the UK is doing just fine, while the UK without the EU definitely isn't. Making promises you can't or won't keep does something to your credibility, even if we Americans are so used to it we've come to expect it from our politicians.So that means Johnson finally went with no-deal Brexit, and a lot of the problems pointed out by the Remainers happened exactly as they had predicted, e.g. Britons living in Spain are having to leave. There were big gains by Sinn Fein, the SNP, and Plaid Cymru, all advocating the separation of their respective countries from Westminster, support for the Tories has plummeted, and allied nations are worried about the stability of the UK government. So now I'm asking: Was it worth it, and if so why?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday October 21 2022, @01:10PM
I agree, Brexit is continuing to hurt us economically. The economic and political fall out will be much worse as Scotland will likely go independent in the next year or two, which is sad.
I guess it depends what you prioritise - freedom to determine who is in charge through a reasonably democratic process or material wealth (where material wealth means real things like access to health care, jobs, food, etc etc). In UK we spent most of the 17th and 18th century trying to maintain and even increase the level of democracy, at the cost of much blood, and it would be a shame to let that go.
Of course a negotiated outcome that strengthens and democratises EU would be better than this mess of Brexit, but we are where we are. I don't believe EU will last another 50 years - but I really hope it does. Time will tell.
(Score: 0, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Friday October 21 2022, @01:34PM (3 children)
"principle"
the fact that you dismiss this with nigh a second thought is why you will never understand and will rather always trend towards destruction and degeneracy
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday October 21 2022, @05:21PM (2 children)
I'm dismissing it because my experience is that when something's alleged to be necessary on principle, that's a mask for something a lot more concrete.
For instance, when you say you wanted "out from under the boot of Brussels", that tells me that the EU was making one or more demands from the UK that you believe is oppressive and horrible and the UK should never agree to under any circumstances. But, since you won't tell me what the allegedly-unacceptable demands were, you make it impossible for me or anybody else to evaluate the merits of your objections. So without a clear description of exactly what it is you are getting away from, I'm going to have to assume that the real objection is something you think the rest of us would find unseemly or impolite. In short, you lack the courage to actually declare and stand by what it is you want, and thus force us all to guess.
It would be like somebody a few years back touting "Remain" on the principle of "coalitions and alliances make us more powerful", when what they actually meant was "I want to be able to easily and discreetly make regular trips to Amsterdam because all the best hookers are there".
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Troll) by HammeredGlass on Friday October 21 2022, @07:55PM
I'm sure you can name a dozen things you wish you could ascribe to me, and I am sure that you would misplace the nature of my objection to it as some phobia or ism and your ignorance would remain as it always has, NPC. -- please hold for update --
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday October 23 2022, @02:07PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Insightful) by theluggage on Thursday October 20 2022, @03:43PM (7 children)
...except the same people who chose the unsuitable candidate purely as a tactical vote to prevent the other faction's candidate from winning get to choose her replacement, and will most likely do the same thing all over again. Truss wasn't the problem - the issue is that the MPs of the ruling party have become too split and factionalised to unite behind any one leader.
The system doesn't have anything to stop this cycle going on for another two years - that would rely on the incumbent party voting to call a general election that they would most likely lose badly (the word "turkeys" and "christmas" spring to mind).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 20 2022, @04:22PM
No system is perfect, ones that unite behind a singular leader frequently become examples of "very bad things."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by RedGreen on Thursday October 20 2022, @04:28PM (1 child)
"(the word "turkeys" and "christmas" spring to mind). "
"Goose" and "cooked" spring to mine as a proper analogy for the situation. Also a lovely Christmas meal quite popular in Brittan if they can afford it this year....
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday October 20 2022, @10:47PM
You may be onto something.
to truss [cambridge.org]
- to tie the arms and legs of someone together tightly and roughly with rope to prevent them from moving or escaping
- to prepare a bird for cooking by tying its wings and legs to its body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday October 21 2022, @01:17PM (3 children)
It should be pretty clear to them that they are now fighting for survival at the next election. If they don't pull something out of the hat in the next two years, they will get hammered and this must now be crystal clear to all of them.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Saturday October 22 2022, @12:22PM (2 children)
...except at least 46 of them are publicly backing Boris Johnson as the new leader, so they're clearly as mad as a box of frogs.
Whatever you think of Johnson's political views, even thinking of re-instating a leader who (a) only recently resigned after most of his cabinet walked out on him and (b) is facing a standards committee inquiry which, at best, will be another press circus and at worst could see him thrown out of parliament (so, another leadership contest) shows complete and utter disregard for the stability of government and the inability to accept compromise.
The problem is that all Johnson has to do is come second in the parliamentary party ballot, so it will have to go to the conservative party membership (single purchasable vote) who will elect him in a shot. Then we'll have another six months of mayhem while the media and the other half of the party try and bring him down.
...and the parliamentary party votes are usually the most extreme case of tactical voting imaginable, with (e.g.) members deliberately supporting weak candidates in the first round to knock strong candidates out of the later rounds (which is how they ended up with Truss in the first place).
The problem is that the current Tory party don't seem to have any common values that they can unite behind.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Saturday October 22 2022, @02:37PM
Watching it unfolding, I can't quite believe that people are backing him. Mad as a box of frogs, indeed.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday October 24 2022, @03:25PM
Just to come back to this - as of today it looks like the system worked (or at least, BoJo and Mordaunt didn't get even enough votes to stand).
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2022, @04:12PM (1 child)
She managed to lead the country during the reign of more monarchs than any other PM of the last 70 years.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday October 20 2022, @05:07PM
"Lead" the country is overstating it a bit.
The monarchs bit is correct though.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2022, @04:30PM (2 children)
Now kick all the rightwing sycophants who want to give the wealthy MORE MONEY while destroying the very needed public institutions like education and healthcare.
Rightwingers are the lamest form of pure evil. Greed turning somewhat normal people into making decisions that literally destroy and kill society. Like the initial US response to COVID, the GOP and rightwing media are complicit in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Ari/APK please stay on topic for jani's test of the AC system.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @07:39AM
Wake me when it's time to eat the rich.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Friday October 21 2022, @07:26PM
1st, LOL @ Liz. Actually tried to deliver on the sick fantasy that more wealth inequality is good. Reagan tried a similar stunt in the US in the early 1980s, and was forced to back away when the economy immediately started a fast downward slide. Liz got frogmarched away from that program, right out of office. Should've kept that all talk and no substance. I tell you, politicians these days, can't even lie with skill and effect, they've become so dreadfully inept.
But yeah, what to do about all these far right fools and tools? They've had far too much success lately, in the US, Britain, Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, and Russia, to name a few places. In the past, it's been all too easy to manipulate rival groups of bigots into fighting one another, and bleed them all. Lot harder to do that now, with nukes in the picture. It seems the only thing holding them in check is that they are a minority, barely. Some things I've read lately suggest it's a sort of natural proportion. In every population, about 20% are authoritarians, and a further 25% or so can be scared into authoritarian behavior with suitable fearmongering. That's frightfully close to 50%. The unstated assumption is that that proportion is fairly fixed. But what if that assumption is wrong?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by turgid on Thursday October 20 2022, @05:36PM (2 children)
Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the Britannia Unhinged mob, the ERG and Faragists who brought us Brexit and Libertarian economics along with social divisiveness, intolerance, authoritarianism and xenophobic policies like transportation of refugees to Rwanda. Let's hope she isn't replaced with someone even worse. Things got bad enough.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2022, @08:51PM
The US midterm elections say "hold my beer."
As well as "and hold my totally authentic police badge."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday October 21 2022, @10:55AM
That's almost a guarantee though: The Tories don't want a general election, because they'd then face consequences for their scandals and incompetence. The next people up for consideration are mostly people who've failed the last 3 times the Tory leadership was up for debate. Heck, there's even people making a push to bring back Boris Johnson and all his dissembling and scandals. Because no matter what the Tories do, they can continue doing this dance for at least another 2 years and continue holding control of the Commons and the government at least in name. Oh, and there's no guarantee that they can't vote to change when the next guaranteed election happens, thus keeping themselves in power while the country's citizens and opposition parties fume.
Oh, and as an added bonus, apparently Truss gets around £115,000 a year for screwing up this badly. Nice work if you can get it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pTamok on Thursday October 20 2022, @08:38PM (4 children)
Apparently Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (known to close friends as 'Al', Boris is the name of his public persona) is cutting short a foreign holiday to return to the UK.
He could be re-elected by the Tories as the Party Leader, and hence be the Prime Minister again. There's an interesting prospect.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Thursday October 20 2022, @11:13PM (1 child)
May you live in interesting times.
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Friday October 21 2022, @12:01PM
I already do. My wish is for them to be less interesting. Current UK government policies have cut my current and future income by roughly 10% in real terms this year, so far. Far from being the party I can trust to be financially responsible with the economy, the Tories are demonstrating what happens when you ignore mainstream, consensus economic advice. Proposing unfunded tax cuts to promote economic growth was just the icing on a very very big cake.
I can recommend Simon Wren-Lewis' (Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford.) blog: "Mainly Macro" [blogspot.com] for a reasonably approachable commentary. There's several year's worth of entries. George Osborne and the 'austerity' policy was an economy wrecker, as is Brexit. The damage might be unrecoverable for generations.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kazzie on Friday October 21 2022, @06:28AM (1 child)
It's also interesting that he (still an MP) was abroad on holiday while Parliament was sitting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @07:42AM
That's socialism for you.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday October 21 2022, @12:23AM (3 children)
Since G7 decided to remove Putin, the score is 3-0.
I predict the final one - all of the original G7's removed - 10-0.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 21 2022, @02:14AM (2 children)
Ability to remove bad leaders is a good sign, you know.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday October 21 2022, @06:29AM (1 child)
The ability to replace them with other bad leaders: less so.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 21 2022, @01:34PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2022, @03:15PM
Truss and her mates were disciples of Ayn Rand and were trying to convert Britain.