Liz Truss

Betting odds overwhelmingly predict Prime Minister Liz Truss will be turfed out before the end of the year. For bookies, the only question remaining seems to be ...

Now pundits argue the new head of the U.K. [said Alex Apati](https://sports.ladbrokes.com/news/politics/next-prime-minister-odds), spokesman for Ladbrokes betting firm, on Sunday. “This government will therefore take whatever tough decisions are necessary to do so.” Treasury, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, is the de facto prime minister, dictating the U.K. prime minister in history, beating a record set in 1827 by George Canning, who [died](https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/george-canning) after barely four months in office. [losing to the leafy vegetable](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/liz-truss-lettuce-last-longer-28235047) (at least figuratively). Betting odds overwhelmingly predict Prime Minister Liz Truss will be turfed out before the end of the year. [wipeout for the Tories](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/liz-truss-poll-labour-conservatives-b2202716.html). Perhaps the hottest bet among U.K. [replacement for her scandal-plagued predecessor Boris Johnson](https://fortune.com/2022/07/07/why-did-boris-johnson-resign-series-of-scandals-controversies-sparked-cabinet-mutiny/), Truss’ political fortunes nose-dived last month when her signature plan to grow the economy with unfunded tax cuts [crashed the pound](https://fortune.com/2022/09/23/liz-truss-uk-government-recession-spending-taxes-borrowing-pound-gilts/) and [nearly bankrupted pension funds](https://fortune.com/2022/09/28/ray-dalio-uk-emerging-country-bank-of-england-trussonomics-markets-chaos/). [cast in the same boat as profligates Italy and Greece](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-economy-like-greece-italy-143314702.html). [concluded last week](https://twitter.com/jamesdoleman/status/1580073775529238528?s=20&t=L43_mUE86Pcrdb-GOr-9lQ) that—once stripping out the official 10-day mourning period for the Queen’s death—Truss managed to destroy her premiership after only seven days of actual government work: “That is the shelf life of a lettuce.”

"No government can control markets, but every government can give certainty about the sustainability of public finances."

What he's saying: "A central responsibility for any government is to do what's necessary for economic stability," Hunt said. [sent the pound](https://www.axios.com/2022/09/27/british-pound-liz-truss-tax-cuts) to a record low against the dollar. [new chancellor of the Exchequer](https://www.axios.com/2022/10/14/uk-kwasi-kwarteng-chancellor-tax-cuts), said Monday he was reversing "almost all" of a controversial economic plan as he attempts to calm markets and stabilize Prime Minister Liz Truss' government.

In the opening weeks of her premiership, Truss weathered a widely criticized economic package and fired her finance minister. Are we heading for another ...

And the question remaining for many in Britain is whether this sudden change of direction will be enough to salvage her own position. And what has all of this done to the U.K.'s image abroad? The cost of borrowing for the government itself in the form of government bond yields - that has fallen. Those two metrics really matter - government borrowing costs and interest rates - because they're the main drivers for mortgage costs in Britain, where we have a lot of variable rate mortgages. And that, indeed, has been a plank of the conservative approach over the last 12 years in government. It seems, initially, at least, to have calm the turmoil in the markets.

New chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that almost all budget plans announced three weeks ago will be scrapped.

On Friday she fired her former chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and began to unpick the policies in their budget proposal. The government planned to cut the basic rate of income tax, currently 20%, by one percentage point in April 2023. [BBC economics editor Faisal Islam](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-63278993?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=634d2f1092171f0e39be8873%26An%20utterly%20extraordinary%20un-budget%262022-10-17T10%3A33%3A56.040Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:a6387946-abe4-4e3d-9a47-d624c4a1f4c7&pinned_post_asset_id=634d2f1092171f0e39be8873&pinned_post_type=share) “perhaps... the biggest U-turn in British economic history,” is deeply embarrassing for Truss. After that, he said, the Treasury would review the policy and try work out how to deliver something less expensive. 23, and would not cut taxes on the highest-paid members of society.

Senior UK business figures are calling on Liz Truss to stand down as prime minister after she was forced to scrap almost all of her economic policies amid ...

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt may still be taking questions in the House of Commons as this reaches you, but it was his guillotining of the prime ...

Hunt will know that his leader, and his party, are at the limits of (notoriously elastic) political possibility now — to admit you have got so much so wrong, and yet still be allowed to remain in charge. [new poll](https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1582038729694191616?s=20&t=NwCMwgT29pOUvDRONdu8Ug) puts the Conservatives [36 points behind Labour](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-17/labour-leads-tories-by-36-points-in-poll-in-fresh-blow-to-truss) — the largest lead for any party since 1997. Hunt has a tendency to blink, but his earnest address to camera suggested he knew the enormity of what he was doing: killing off a Budget, a political agenda and possibly the prime minister who appointed him.

As Liz Truss's political future hangs in the balance, Tory MPs are plotting ways to oust her.

If Labour tabled such a motion, the government should - by convention - allow time for a debate and vote in Parliament. But there is no appetite for another long and divisive leadership contest so soon after the last. And if more MPs call for her to stand down, she may jump before she is pushed. If Ms Truss doesn't resign, her cabinet could move against her with a wave of resignations, as with Boris Johnson earlier this year. Ben Wallace, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are the three names being widely discussed. Prime Minister Liz Truss's premiership is in peril, with her MPs plotting ways to oust her.

New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to U-turn on more of the government's tax-cutting plans.

"She is the prime minister at the moment, we will not have an election for the next couple of years. It would be best for the party… Under current Conservative Party rules, Ms Truss is safe from a no confidence vote by Tory MPs to oust her for a year. if we don't have another leadership campaign," he told Today. "It's done... He said the appointment of Mr Hunt had "begun to repair some of the damage" but a change of prime minister was needed as well.

The premier watched on in the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, the former leadership rival she installed to rescue her premiership, ...

23 “Growth Plan.” She later apologized for her mistakes in a BBC television interview. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was clinging to power on Monday after suffering the abject humiliation of being forced to U-Turn on much of the economic program she announced only last month. The premier watched on in the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, the former leadership rival she installed to rescue her premiership,

Liz Truss' plan to cut British taxes was radical; the lack of indication of how to pay for it was daring. Her failure to hear criticism was fatal.

But in the evolving politics of China, where Mr. There is no more striking example than the lockdowns, affecting hundreds of millions of people, through which he has been pursuing his goal of “zero COVID.” If she had listened to advice, she might well have been able to retain the core ideological thrust of her policy, yet time tax cuts and expenditures in such a way, and explain them with sufficient credibility, that markets would not be spooked. The result has been the battlefield morass in which his forces now find themselves. Subjecting decisions to the filter of voices belonging to those with different expertise and experience, and those affected by what was ultimately decided. Her plan to cut taxes for business and the wealthy was radical; the lack of any indication of how to pay for the cuts was daring. Russian President Vladimir Putin rolled his tanks into Ukraine in the clear expectation of a fairly easy victory, ignoring skeptical voices. President Donald Trump shrugged off experts’ warnings during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, preferring to repeatedly play down its seriousness. Kwarteng’s first moves in office had been to sack the top civil servant in Britain’s treasury department. Hunt’s reversal was the equivalent of a giant sigh of relief. And that has denied her an invaluable corrective tool for anyone in government, especially at the top – a sounding board. Monday’s unprecedentedly comprehensive U-turn was a culmination of events that started last Friday, when the prime minister fired her original finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng.

In the opening weeks of her premiership, Truss weathered a widely criticized economic package and fired her finance minister. Are we heading for another ...

And the question remaining for many in Britain is whether this sudden change of direction will be enough to salvage her own position. And what has all of this done to the U.K.'s image abroad? This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. The cost of borrowing for the government itself in the form of government bond yields - that has fallen. And that, indeed, has been a plank of the conservative approach over the last 12 years in government. Those two metrics really matter - government borrowing costs and interest rates - because they're the main drivers for mortgage costs in Britain, where we have a lot of variable rate mortgages. The Conservative Party - does want to keep Truss as its leader? And that may mean there's less pressure next month for the Bank of England to raise interest rates. He spent the weekend in reassurance mode doing a series of interviews. The costs for the government to borrow money it needed skyrocketed as well. It seems, initially, at least, to have calm the turmoil in the markets. But to make sense of all of this and to explain the potential implications, we're joined by London-based journalist Willem Marx.

The move further undermined the prime minister's rapidly crumbling authority and fueled calls for her to step down before her despairing Conservative Party ...

He said “the prime minister and the chancellor discussed these measures and agreed them over the weekend.” Bond yields tend to rise as the risk of a borrower defaulting increases and fall as that risk declines. Polls suggest an election would be a wipeout for the Tories, with the Labour Party winning a big majority. He spent the weekend in crisis talks with Truss, and also met with Bank of England Gov. “But they are big, welcome, clear steps in the right direction.″ The unfunded tax cuts fueled investor concerns about unsustainable levels of government borrowing, which pushed up government borrowing costs, raised home mortgage costs and sent the pound plummeting to an all-time low against the dollar. The government had already ditched parts of its tax-cutting plan and announced it would make a medium-term fiscal statement on Oct. 23 announcement of 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts that spooked financial markets, sent the pound to record lows and forced the Bank of England to take emergency action. But Hunt told Conservative lawmakers that Truss “backed him to the hilt in making difficult decisions” — suggesting he has a free hand to make policy. 22, the day before Kwarteng announced the tax cuts. Over the weekend, Hunt has been dismantling that economic plan. Such major policy announcements are normally made first in the House of Commons.

"We will reverse almost all the tax measures" from the mini-budget, Jeremy Hunt said. What an extraordinary thing to hear. Diaries are going out of fashion at ...

Inevitably some couldn't help jump to the conclusion that he was somehow offering a commentary on the pickle she is in. I can bring you a little nugget about one of the things that set tongues wagging last week - that throwaway remark from the King when he met Liz Truss for their weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. But she didn't turn up and instead sent Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt, putting back the chancellor's appearance by about an hour. Liz Truss is meeting her backbenchers, offering to see them all this week. "Not many of us buy the idea that another leadership change is the worst case scenario. Originally it was in the diary for November. One source suggested they are working "in lockstep." The statement that has just been delivered is the second yanking forward of an important economic moment for the country. I'm now told it was actually a nod of sympathy because of logistics - it was the prime minister's second visit to the Palace in a matter of hours. Yesterday Liz Truss invited Jeremy Hunt and his family to lunch at Chequers. Labour tried to haul the prime minister to the Commons to answer for what is going on. So if this feels a bit confusing this is where it is at: There had to be an interim statement before the interim statement, to try to steady the ship.

The British prime minister also insists she will 'definitely' lead her party into the next general election.

[forced to deny](https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-economy-liz-truss-not-hiding/) that Truss was hiding from scrutiny. [used a television address](https://www.politico.eu/article/hunt-tears-up-truss-tax-and-energy-plan/) to essentially tear up the manifesto which Truss ran on to ultimately win the summer’s Tory leadership contest. [openly plotting ways](https://www.politico.eu/article/liz-truss-prime-minister-uk-conservative-party-finished/) to oust the prime minister, who was forced to sack her close friend Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor following a furious market response to her tax-cutting agenda.

Few Tory MPs think she should lead them into an election but they are trying to work out their next move.

That is my message to my colleagues," she concluded. "The important thing is that I've been elected to this position to deliver for the country. "I'm not focused on internal debates within the Conservative Party leader." Her team knows. She is trying to make the best of a desperate situation for her. Liz Truss knows.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, next to British Prime Minister Liz Truss, looks on at the House of Commons, in London, Britain, October 17, ...

"I'm sticking around because I was elected to deliver for this country," she said. "The most vulnerable will be protected into next winter," she said. But the response from bond investors was brutal and borrowing costs surged.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is focused on providing economic stability after the government reversed nearly all of the mini-budget announced last month ...

"We recognise that economic stability is important, particularly when we are seeing some of the global headwinds we are right now and that is why we have made these changes," the spokesperson said. The government went "too far, too fast" in its drive for growth, the spokesperson said. LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss is focused on providing economic stability after the government reversed nearly all of the mini-budget announced last month that had sparked market turmoil, her spokesperson said on Monday.

The PM apologises for mistakes, after her chancellor tears up almost all of her tax-cutting agenda.

"I do think it is the mark of an honest politician who does say 'yes, I've made a mistake. I've addressed that mistake. "It would have been completely irresponsible for me not to act in the national interest in the way I have." In her interview, Ms Truss said she accepted responsibility for going "too far, too fast" - and she wanted to "say sorry for the mistakes that have been made". Liz Truss told the BBC's Chris Mason she was "sorry for the mistakes that have been made". "I remain committed to the vision, but we will have to deliver that in a different way," she said.

Mr Hunt announced he was scrapping "almost all" of the tax cuts announced by the government last month, in a bid to stabilise the financial markets. A minister ...

Allies of Ms Truss have acknowledged it was a crucial 24 to 48 hours for her premiership. You can also get in touch in the following ways: She also denied there had been a "coup" to remove her. Instead, Ms Truss sent Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt in her place for the clash. He told Sky News: "I think her position is untenable. Ms Truss had previously ruled out a further windfall tax on energy companies. A penny cut in income tax due in April will now not happen. Former chief whip Andrew Mitchell said the prime minister had just a fortnight to save her premiership and "if she cannot do the job, she will be replaced". In a series of tense exchanges, Ms Mourdant told MPs the "prime minister is not under a desk" hiding to avoid difficult decisions. A minister had to deny Ms Truss was hiding "under a desk" after the prime minister did not attend a clash with Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons. Asked if he would introduce a "proper" windfall tax on energy companies, Mr Hunt said he was "not against the principle" of taxing profits that are "genuine windfalls", adding that "nothing is off the table". Mr Hunt announced he was scrapping "almost all" of the tax cuts announced by the government last month, in a bid to stabilise the financial markets.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday apologized for her controversial mini-budget that crashed the country's currency, rattled financial markets and ...

Truss added it was “painful” to sack her “friend” Kwarteng as finance minister but said she stood by her decision. “We have to make sure though, that we have economic stability, and that has to be my priority as prime minister. “The United Kingdom will always pay its way.” “I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made. Just four days into the job, he said he would reverse “almost all” tax measures announced three weeks ago by his predecessor. [Hunt has since overturned](http://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/business/uk-fiscal-plan-jeremy-hunt/index.html) many of her most significant leadership campaign pledges.

In March 1841, William Henry Harrison became the ninth president of the United States. He gave the longest inaugural speech in history—one hour and 45 ...

She has failed because she is a [born-again Brexiteer](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/rishi-sunak-liz-truss-debate-uk-prime-minister/670951/), and had already swallowed the lie that reality can be bent to ideology. Unless their fortunes undergo a complete reversal, the Conservatives—who have dominated the postwar period and consider themselves the “ [natural party of government](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230367487_1)” in Britain—would suffer a wipeout on the scale of the Canadian center-right in 1993. In three days (his time in the job) and five and a half minutes (the length of his Not Liz Truss, though, who had [pledged](https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1549776302533640194?lang=en) to “hit the ground running.”) Dust off the [Laffer curve](https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1083656052028174336?lang=en-GB), silence the “ [doomsters](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11244431/ALEX-BRUMMER-Kwasi-Kwarteng-delivers-genuine-Tory-Budget-spells-end-Treasury-doomsters.html)” worried about where the money would come from, and [luxuriate](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/09/23/mini-budget-risky-breath-fresh-air/) in what even a sympathetic commentator described as a “Reaganite show of fiscal incontinence and Thatcherite derring-do.” Her chief of staff has spent his entire tenure embroiled in scandal after it was revealed he was [being paid](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63042132) by his old lobbying firm, rather than taking a government salary. [fired](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/sacking-tom-scholar-a-move-that-undermines-the-treasury-the-civil-service-and-the-government/) the most senior civil servant at the treasury, because he was too fond of fiscal orthodoxy. The lettuce now looks [sad and wilted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm-RE95lKJ0). [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/10/11/liz-truss-has-made-britain-a-riskier-bet-for-bond-investors) pointed out that, once the official mourning period for Elizabeth II was taken into account, Truss “had seven days in control. [looked](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/23/kwasi-kwarteng-mini-budget-key-points-at-a-glance) on as Kwasi Kwarteng—her chancellor of the Exchequer, political soulmate, and personal friend—put forward a “mini budget” that would cut taxes on top earners, remove a cap on bankers’ bonuses, and cancel a planned corporate-tax hike. [ceased to be](https://montypython.50webs.com/scripts/Series_1/53.htm). Even now, she says she wants to lead her party into the next election, as if she had not just immolated her credibility; her longstanding ideological commitment to [Britannia Unchained](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137032249) has proved entirely resistant to facts and changing circumstances.

Ms. Gold is a journalist who writes about Britain's politics, culture and everyday life. PENZANCE, England — For 40 days, Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain ...

Ms. The defenestration of Ms. Their choice of Ms. We may say at last: Enough of post-truth and extremism and drinking the dregs of empire. Truss — the prime minister dressed as a bin or likened to a lettuce — are cruel, larded with sexism and snobbery. [6 percent](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/twelve-years-after-the-tories-launched-austerity-how-can-truss-balance-the-books-0pcxcbx7k) of the country supports her tax cuts, while Elizabeth II preached unity and love. The process of casting off, of angry repudiation, is accelerating: We are now on our fourth prime minister since 2016. His support was typically cynical: He backed Ms. The choice of Brexit, the nightmare we are slowly awakening to, proves it. [brought down](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/05/world/johnson-cabinet-resignations) Mr. [Kwasi Kwarteng](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/10/14/world/uk-finance-minister-truss-kwarteng/kwasi-kwarteng-uk-chancellor-tax?smid=url-share), her chancellor and friend, and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt, a Tory moderate who has [torn up](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/world/europe/uk-jeremy-hunt-fiscal-plan-budget.html) the rest of her economic platform with the performative solemnity of a disappointed teacher. [mini budget](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/world/europe/uk-tax-cuts-economy.html),” on which she hung her free-market credentials, was a disaster: Bond yields rocketed, the pound tanked, and the markets, far from gratified, were distinctly upset.

The party has a knack for reinvention – we can't let them pin it all on one unpopular leader, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones.

[boasted about raiding money](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/05/video-emerges-of-rishi-sunak-admitting-to-taking-money-from-deprived-areas) from poor urban communities in favour of rich Tory districts, who called for those who “vilify” the UK to be treated as extremists, the sort of unhinged authoritarianism you might expect from Viktor Orbán. [genius of David Cameron and George Osborne](https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/jeremy-hunt-says-david-cameron-was-a-genius-for-getting-public-to-accept-austerity)” for how they “persuaded the country to accept the most challenging cuts to public spending in our peacetime history without poll tax riots”. As chancellor, he successfully [championed lockdown sceptics](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/48-hours-in-september-when-ministers-and-scientists-split-over-covid-lockdown-vg5xbpsfx) and ensured that restrictions were delayed in autumn 2020, only for them to be imposed more harshly and for longer than might have otherwise been the case when infections spiralled out of control. This was a team effort, brought to you by Conservative party productions, by Cameroons and Eurosceptics, by Spartans and Johnsonites, from One Nation Conservatives to the European Research Group. [flagship political programme](https://twitter.com/Channel4/status/1576615492692893698) in the capacity of witness, rather than an accused in the dock. Given he agitated for corporation tax [to be slashed](https://news.sky.com/video/corporation-tax-cut-not-sexy-but-necessary-says-jeremy-hunt-as-he-discusses-conservative-leadership-bid-12649235) to an even lower level than Truss had dreamed of, how can he credibly argue he will offer a meaningful alternative to Trussonomics? [he was too slow](https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n335) to boost the NHS workforce: a euphemistic revision of how he [ignored severe NHS staff shortages](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/15/jeremy-hunt-ignored-nhs-staff-shortages-while-health-secretary), which left us underprepared for the pandemic. Buried by the very “markets” she once fetishised, the prime minister is terminally wounded, [fronting policies](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/17/hunt-rips-up-most-of-mini-budget-and-scales-back-energy-prices-plan) that, just days ago, she would have savaged as coming from the “anti-growth coalition”. He tuts now at economic policies recklessly defying market rules, as though it wasn’t under his economic stewardship that Britain’s [AAA-rated debt status](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/feb/23/george-osborne-britain-aaa) wasn’t stripped away. [opaquely funded rightwing thinktanks](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/23/liz-truss-power-extreme-neoliberal-thinktanks), she has now been barred from the lab itself. Let’s not forget what happened to Theresa May, who – after carelessly disposing of the Tories’ parliamentary majority – was condemned to remain in office by her own party, in the hope she’d absorb the political mortar fire otherwise directed at the Having turned her own citizens into lab rats for an experiment brewed in the boardrooms of

Voters in Conservative Harlow respond to the reversal of the Truss budget and her future as PM.

"I don't think she's the right candidate. "Well I think it's completely unstable at the moment," he says. "I think we're in a terrible state at the moment," he said. "I don't know what to make of it really." "It's not only the government is it? I think it's time for somebody else to come in power," he says.

Just six weeks into U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss' tenure and the political future of yet another Conservative leader looks to be in jeopardy.

"The consensus at Westminster is now that that the Prime Minister is so weak that she can do nothing without the assent of her Chancellor. [appeared to soothe investor concerns at the start of the week](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/17/british-pound-rises-as-new-finance-minister-brings-forward-policy-statement-to-today.html). Sacking her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng from the job has not stabilised her position in the way she had hoped," the Eurasia Group analysts said. But the odds may increase if things go from bad to worse." "The scrapping of large parts of her policy manifesto suggests she is in power in name only," Pickering said, noting it would not be a surprise if U.K. The headwinds are numerous facing the U.K. The "trickle-down economics" theory is that tax breaks and benefits for the wealthy will eventually trickle down to everyone else. "We have been here before with previous PMs. "We've got a big squeeze in real incomes and higher interest rates. The approach has been sharply criticized by U.K. [ripped up almost all the tax cuts Truss had promised](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/17/uks-new-finance-minister-sets-out-.html), [cut short her flagship energy policy](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/17/uk-pm-truss-faces-serious-pressure-to-resign-after-failed-budget.html) and made clear there would be cuts in public spending to come — something Truss said she was ["absolutely" not planning to do just last week](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/12/uk-pm-truss-says-she-will-not-cut-public-spending-to-fund-tax-cuts.html). [who lost to Truss in the recent leadership contest](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/05/liz-truss-to-become-britains-next-prime-minister-replacing-boris-johnson.html), or Hunt, "whose star seems to be rising as per his recent performance," Pickering said.

Prime Minister Liz Truss apologised for threatening Britain's economic stability after she was forced to scrap her vast tax-cutting plans and embark on a ...

Truss spoke to her Brexit-supporting lawmakers on Tuesday, promising to resolve the contentious rules that govern trade with Northern Ireland and said she was still a low-tax conservative who would pursue such goals more slowly. Truss said she was "sticking around" and that she would lead the Conservatives into the next election due in about two years time, although the statement was accompanied by a laugh. Truss's spokesperson said the government could not yet make commitments in individual policy areas, despite previous pledges, but it was focused on protecting the most vulnerable. Markets, which plunged after Truss's Sept. After weeks of blaming "global headwinds" for investors dumping the pound and government bonds, Truss on Monday said she was sorry for going "too far and too fast" with her radical economic plan to snap Britain out of years of tepid growth. LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss warned of tough times ahead after she scrapped her vast tax-cutting plan and said she would carry on to try to put the economy on a stronger footing, defying calls for her resignation.

LONDON (AP) - This has not been a good week for Liz Truss. Britain's prime minister is powerless, humiliated, ...

Britain’s lively, partisan press is unusually united in the opinion that Truss is doomed. Truss is scrambling to recover her grasp on power after her economic plans were ripped up and repudiated by a Treasury chief whom she was forced to appoint to avoid meltdown on the financial markets. Truss remains in office largely because her Conservative Party is divided over how to replace her.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss faces a political crisis after ditching her Conservative government's tax cut plan that sent the pound crashing.

“This was a stark-staringly obviously incredible plan in the strict definition of that word: It lacked credibility from the moment it arrived.” Her radical plans to reshape the British economy went “too far, too fast,” she said, echoing the criticism of countless commentators and economists at home and abroad. “That is roughly the shelf-life of a lettuce,” it said. “It’s inverse Midas levels of genius.” And politically, the damage could be terminal. “I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made,” she told BBC News. “It wasn’t just a total disaster with the markets, it was a total disaster electorally,” Ford said of Truss’ economic plan. “It takes a special kind of talent to spend tens of billions of pounds helping people with their bills and end up within minutes being cast as villains who are in the pockets of the rich,” Ford said. It arrived in a speech to the House of Commons last month, when Kwarteng delivered a “mini-budget” that within days would see the value of the pound crater and the cost of government borrowing balloon to unsustainable levels. “The only thing that keeps her in office, and it’s not a small thing, is the inability to agree on a successor or a transition process,” said Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester. “For all we know right now … But the fact that a senior colleague had to confirm that to a raucous Parliament on Monday is a sign of just

On the face of it, Liz Truss's days as UK prime minister look numbered and her demise imminent. She's been forced to throw out her entire economic policy ...

On the face of it, Liz Truss’s days as UK prime minister look numbered and her demise imminent. She’s been forced to throw out her entire economic policy program, fire her friend and finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng, and has seen her poll numbers plummet to record depths. [@BloombergUK](https://twitter.com/BloombergUK) and on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BloombergNewsUK/), and wrap up your day with [The Readout newsletter](https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/readout?itm_source=inline) with Allegra Stratton.

After a bruising first six weeks in office, the prime minister replaced her finance chief with former leadership rival Jeremy Hunt. But she still faces a ...

British front pages in recent days have [appeared united in the narrative](https://apnews.com/article/business-london-economy-financial-markets-19889f3946b6ea34ba41b6352a7f8e31) that she cannot remain in the role for long. It was designed to protect British households from the high costs of gas and electricity required to heat and power their homes, and Truss as recently as last week taunted her political opponents for suggesting that two years was too long of a guarantee. Chancellor Hunt will unveil a long-term tax and spending plan at the end of this month. [poll numbers have fallen](https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/) through the floor, with around two years before the next election. Perhaps the most politically painful change of direction concerns an energy price cap that Truss promised last month to keep in place for the next two years. [fired her first finance minister](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/14/1129013714/liz-truss-fires-treasury-chief), Kwasi Kwarteng, last Friday. Hunt said this was inadvisable, and reduced the plan's lifespan to just six months. 6 at the end of a long leadership campaign to replace Boris Johnson, who had Since then, she has had to watch his replacement, Jeremy Hunt — a [former leadership rival](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/14/jeremy-hunt-chancellor-surprising-return__;!!Iwwt!QAGZH3549TQv2ivypDWTr_DqYz26FTbD1Ud2UZy3jeMaymai4SwF5YYzUPnMbmh8LGdfQCvmeOzWtWP6$) she appointed to the second most powerful post in government — publicly tear down a series of proposals that she had insisted were critical to Britain's long-term economic growth prospects. They included cuts to the United Kingdom's basic rate of tax, after she had already reversed course on tax cuts for Britain's wealthiest. Late Monday, Truss [insisted in a BBC interview](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-63293891__;!!Iwwt!QAGZH3549TQv2ivypDWTr_DqYz26FTbD1Ud2UZy3jeMaymai4SwF5YYzUPnMbmh8LGdfQCvmeFaIPjGI$) that she will lead her party into that election. The U.K.'s Liz Truss hangs on by a thread, as party members call for her ouster

Well, that and winning about 81,000 of the 142,000 votes cast by members of her Conservative Party as they sought to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who ...

In the week that Truss became prime minister, Labour had a 15-point lead in that polling. There’s no expectation of serving two or four years; as long as their party holds a majority in Parliament and the prime minister is selected to lead the party, they can serve in that position. But that she’s unpopular with her own party — and that her position is seen as dependent on performance even with her base — is probably good news for British democracy. Or as soon as their party loses the majority or they lose the confidence of their supporters, that’s it. [so sharp](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/as-partisan-hostility-grows-signs-of-frustration-with-the-two-party-system/) in the United States. In the weeks after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there’s been a massive shift to the left-leaning Labour Party. She was elected to Parliament and then was selected from her party to be prime minister, given the Conservative majority in the British House of Commons. Johnson’s resignation is a reminder that Truss’s position is more tenuous than is Biden’s; she’s more an occupant of a position than is the case with Biden. Truss, in other words, was not elected by the people of the United Kingdom to be prime minister. There are not many Britons with a personal investment in her success in the way there is with Biden or with, say, Donald Trump. Biden’s has [never been under 70 percent](https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/trackers/joe-biden-favorability?crossBreak=democrat) among Democrats since 2018, and that was back during his party’s contentious primaries. On Tuesday, YouGov released new polling showing that only 10 percent of the country views Truss favorably (or, as they spell it, “favourably”).

Jeremy Hunt, resurrected from several political deaths, is apparently the safest pair of hands in the Tory party, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde.

[Jeremy Hunt](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/17/jeremy-hunt-latest-tory-u-turn-liz-truss) as “a safe pair of hands”, even though he was health secretary at the time of a preparedness simulation into what would happen if the UK was hit by a pandemic, and failed to draw many of the necessary lessons. This morning we learned from armed forces minister [James Heappey](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/oct/18/liz-truss-mini-budget-cabinet-backfire-conservatives-jeremy-hunt-uk-politics-latest?page=with:block-634e4c878f08a7953bbfeac6#block-634e4c878f08a7953bbfeac6) that none of them even realised Truss’s mini-budget had the potential to backfire. Though it goes without saying, of course, that no one would wish to call the matter too early. The tiny electorate who installed Truss as Tory leader did not represent the will of the people, and getting rid of her will place the next leader a full two removes from the electoral mandate won in 2019. Odd that MPs who talked of nothing but “the will of the people” for years are deafeningly quiet on the subject now. [Jeremy Hunt](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/17/new-chancellor-shreds-pms-economic-plans-in-unprecedented-u-turn) try to persuade the markets to get back together with the UK, their maddest ex. Eventually the sole remaining business in our economy will be the hipster trade in ironic [In Liz We Truss mugs](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/7-most-tory-things-weve-28140318). Of course, the key difference is that the long-term governing party is not on to a winner with this. As predicted at the time, the death of shame in public life that Boris Johnson was allowed to preside over has made it that much easier for those who come after him to act shamelessly themselves. [Britannia has been rechained](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/01/make-sure-failure-is-survivable-pms-book-reveals-pointer-to-trussonomics). [UK economy contracted](https://www.ft.com/content/f1f0a66a-fa2c-4d70-9874-8003bdb3fb53) from being 90 % the size of Germany’s to now being just 70%. The lesson of the past few years in British politics is that new lows can always be found.

When Reagan pushed through unfunded tax cuts, they also raised interest rates — but they drove the dollar up, not down. Thatcher similarly presided over a ...

But let me turn from the British scene to that in the United States, and the continuation of a puzzle I noted [several years ago](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/opinion/ralph-northam-howard-schultz.html). (And the distribution of [British voters](https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-self-destructive-political-right.html) seems similar.) His picture looked like this: [2017 paper](https://www.voterstudygroup.org/publication/political-divisions-in-2016-and-beyond) by the political scientist Lee Drutman mapped out the distribution of U.S. In America, the positions of the two parties are clear. In the United States, though, socially illiberal voters who want a strong safety net for themselves have effectively no representation. [many conservatives](https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1581323079611211776) compared Truss’s policies — favorably — to those of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. So she placed herself in the political wilderness, a barren quadrant where few voters may be found. [9 percent approval](https://www.yahoo.com/video/u-k-liz-truss-net-214217680.html) among British voters — a performance that would probably be impossible in the United States, where extreme political polarization guarantees that even a leader who, say, instigated a violent insurrection will retain a large base of support. Truss staked out a political position that, to a first approximation, has no public support either in Britain or in the United States. But this was a bit hard to believe: The Bank of England is politically independent, and unlikely to ratify deficit spending. Indeed, the bank did intervene to limit what it considered the danger of a sort of death spiral driven by forced fire sales of long-term bonds. I’m still mulling over that story about the markets, but the political point is clear.

The UK prime minister abandoned her tax proposal and fired her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. That doesn't mean the UK economy or the Conservative Party's grip ...

This is a much more factional Conservative Party, with different wings — there’s a Boris Johnson wing, there’s a Liz Truss wing, there’s a One Nation liberal conservative wing, and that makes it difficult for the party to find a figure that everybody can agree on, to find policies that everyone can agree on.” [YouGov polls](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/09/27/labour-overtake-tories-who-britons-think-will-win-) over the past nine months have put Labour firmly in the lead for the next government. “The people who get all the money will not spend it because they are already rich, and the people who need money to spend will get next to nothing and will then get slammed with a doubling of energy bills and a huge rise in their mortgage costs.” There may be some Conservative politicians who hope to keep Truss in office as a convenient scapegoat for the UK’s economic and cost-of-living crises, experts told Vox, especially considering there’s no real viable alternative leader emerging. That temporarily boosted markets, but the pound continued its slump, [seeing some recovery last week on predictions of a more robust policy reversal](https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/sterling-hovers-near-two-week-low-boe-bond-buying-deadline-looms-2022-10-13/). Truss and Kwarteng proposed the policy as a way to jump-start the sluggish economy — essentially, trickle-down economics in the 21st century. [Truss apologized late Monday](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/british-pm-truss-apologises-economic-plan-spending-cuts-come-2022-10-18/), telling the BBC she would “accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made,” and told interviewer Chris Mason that she intended to lead the Conservative Party through the next general election. Instead, the government “decide[d] to do massive tax cuts that may not be even stimulatory given that the skew on who gets the money makes the Trump tax cuts look like socialism,” Blyth said. “She’s in office, but she doesn’t have much power, and that basically is the problem,” Matthew Goodwin, a professor of politics at the University of Kent, told Vox. “The nature of the UK measures will likely increase inequality,” the global lender said, urging the government to “consider ways to provide support that [are] more targeted and reevaluate the tax measures, especially those that benefit high-income earners.” [Kwasi Kwarteng](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-finance-minister-kwarteng-has-been-sacked-bbc-2022-10-14/) on Friday, just six weeks into his tenure in her cabinet. On top of a deepening cost-of-living crisis, Truss’s plan sent foreign investors fleeing from the British economy, driving the country’s currency to a record-low value against the dollar.