Just in: UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss resigns
British Prime Minister, Elizabeth Truss has resigned.
Speaking outside Number 10, Liz Truss announced she is stepping down as Prime Minister after just six weeks.
After just 44 days in No10 the PM took to a lectern outside the famous black door to confirm her departure, sealing her fate to be the shortest-serving premier in modern political history.
Saying she had informed the King of her decision, she said: ‘I cannot deliver on the mandate…. I will remain as PM until a successor has been chosen.’
A leadership election will be ‘completed in the next week’, she adds.
Ms Truss – who insisted she was a ‘fighter not a quitter’ barely 24 hours ago said the Tory leadership contest will be completed over the next week.
The bombshell news follows 24 hours of carnage that saw the Home Secretary quit, confusion over whether the Chief Whip had followed her out of the door, and MPs wrestling in Commons voting lobbies.
She held crisis talks with 1922 chair Graham Brady, deputy PM Therese Coffey and Tory chair Jake Berry in the building earlier, as they delivered a grim message about the mood of the party.
The Tory MPs that publicly called for Truss to go
Here are the Tories who have openly called for the PM to quit – although many more have made their views clear privately.
1) Crispin Blunt
2) Andrew Bridgen
3) Jamie Wallis
4) Angela Richardson
5) Charles Walker
6) Will Wragg
7) Gary Streeter
8) Steve Double
9) Sheryll Murray
10) Henry Smith
11) Miriam Cates
12) Matthew Offord
13) Jill Mortimer
14) Ruth Edwards
