Liz Truss’ resignation leaves a party in tatters and a nation in despair

[Edge Guerrero]

Luke McGee, CNN
Updated 3:24 PM EDT, Thu October 20, 2022

London
CNN
—
Even by recent standards, Thursday was a jaw-dropping day in British politics.

Liz Truss, a born-again Brexiteer who took over from Boris Johnson a mere six weeks ago, announced that she was to resign. In her wake, she leaves an economic crisis precipitated by a “growth plan” full of unfunded tax cuts, and a Conservative Party that may be in office, but is most certainly not wielding much power.

It is hard to overstate just how much impact Truss’ accession to the top job had on British politics in such a short space of time. Her radical economic policy proposals – even before they were even enacted – caused the pound to sink to its lowest level against the dollar in decades.

The turmoil caused government bonds to soar, which had a negative impact on government borrowing and, more perilously, real people’s pension funds. The rise in interest rates forced up mortgage repayments, and lenders scrambled to pull their products from the market, dashing the hopes of prospective homeowners almost overnight

Faced with the fury of her own party – for whom fiscal discipline had, for so long, been a watchword – Truss capitulated. She sacked her finance minister, lost her home secretary and has created even more divisions in a party that has been tearing itself to shreds ever since the 2016 Brexit vote.

It was only a matter of time before she was forced out.

Politicians across the divide are asking the same question that the majority of the country are probably asking themselves: What on earth happens now?

What we know for certain is that the UK will have a new prime minister by the end of next week. That person will be chosen, again, by the Conservative Party – its members of parliament and its grassroots members — rather than the general public. It is a state of affairs that has infuriated the opposition Labour party, which is demanding a general election.

That won’t happen. The Conservative Party’s poll ratings are at a record low, and as the date of an election is within the government’s gift, these turkeys won’t be voting for Christmas.

So, the party will drag itself through another leadership election and a second prime minister in as many months. At least it will be swift: Party managers want it all over by the end of next week.

Who might stand is currently a bit of a mystery. CNN was told by allies of former prime minister Boris Johnson that he is considering what would be an astonishing comeback, despite resigning in disgrace just a few months ago.

While people close Johnson are making the case that he is the only candidate who could truly unite a bitterly divided party, others are quick to say that there was a good reason he was forced from office.

Those reasons, for those with short memories, are that he was hit by so many scandals – from breaking his own Covid regulations to installing someone with a reputation for sexual harassment as his deputy chief whip – that his position as leader of the UK was simply untenable.

Full read at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/20/uk/liz-truss-resigns-analysis-intl-gbr-cmd/index.html

[Masato]

CNN will tell you nothing

[Masato]

Bets on who is puppeted in her place?