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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.
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Liz Truss (Wikipedia).
(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."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(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
(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).