Liz Truss knew she would have to hit the ground running when she became Prime Minister.
But the death of the Queen on Ms Truss' third day in Downing Street meant efforts to tackle the dizzying array of issues facing the country had to be put on hold.
The Government suspended all public facing activity and Parliament went into recess for the 10-day national mourning period for Britain's longest reigning monarch.
But politics will rapidly return in the days following the Queen's funeral, with a mini-Budget, questions on the energy bills plan and Ms Truss' first diplomatic trip as PM.
Here's the long list of problems facing our new PM - and the country she works for.
Energy bills help
Shortly before the Queen’s death, Liz Truss had announced plans to cap the energy bills of millions of households and businesses this winter.
But while the average household bill will be kept at around £2,500 a year for two years, there is much less certainty for businesses and help may not arrive for weeks.
The government is still building the system that will prevent firms having to pay five- or six-fold increases in their energy bills, despite many new bills dropping in October.
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg is due to give a statement tomorrow, but it's thought changes will need an Act of Parliament which can only go through in mid-October at the earliest. Downing Street admitted help could involve “backdating if necessary” - meaning small businesses must find the cash now or recoup it later.
Cost of living crisis
While energy bills are frozen, they are still much higher than the average of just under £1,300 last winter. And that’s not to mention inflation, still around 10% and pushing up food, fuel and clothes costs.
The mini-Budget this Friday will enact Liz Truss’s plans to cut National Insurance and cancel a corporation tax rise, with speculation it could happen in time for workers' November payslips. but these moves mainly help wealthier people and do little for the poorest.
Campaigners have called for an increase to Universal Credit, but there’s very little sign she would do this.
NHS backlogs
One of the most urgent issues facing the country is the record NHS backlog - even before winter bites - with over 6.7 million people on the waiting list.
Many are also struggling to access dentistry while the prospect of industrial action remains on the cards in response to real terms pay cuts during the cost-of-living crisis.
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has warned the health service and social care system is "in a worse state than in living memory".
In her first day in No10, Ms Truss appointed her close ally and friend Therese Coffey as deputy Prime Minister and Health Secretary, tasked with putting the health service "on a firm footing".
Ms Coffey has since identified her A, B, C, D priorities - ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists - and will give a statement on Thursday, but major questions remain over funding.
Strikes
An autumn of strike action awaits the new PM as the cost of living crisis and public sector pay restraint pushes workers to the brink.
Union chiefs called off rail strikes as a mark of respect to the Queen but industrial action looms across a string of sectors, from criminal barristers to posties.
Aslef is already planning rail strikes during the Tory conference, and nurses, teachers and civil servants could follow with dates.
Ms Truss pledged to crack down on unions during the race to be PM but painting trade union leaders as militants is unlikely to wash with the largely sympathetic public.
Resurgent Labour Party
For months now, Keir Starmer's Labour Party has been leading the Conservatives in the polls, particularly throughout the summer as Ms Truss and her Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak traded bitter blows after Boris Johnson's downfall.
It remains to be seen whether Ms Truss will enjoy a poll bounce in her first weeks and months in No10 - and Tory MPs will undoubtedly begin to get jittery if she fails to do so.
With the country facing a cost-of-living crisis, the prospect of a recession, a record NHS backlog, the threat of industrial action across multiple sectors, the conditions are hardly favourable for the Conservatives.
But the Labour leader faces his own criticism - particularly from left-wingers - who have accused him of failing to set out a vision for the country while incensed at his decision to abandon some of the 10 pledges he made while running for leader in 2020.
National debt
The mini- Budget was downgraded to a “fiscal event” because Liz Truss is planning not to unveil independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts.
But that won’t stop the questions about how exactly her borrowing spree to fund an energy bills cap - estimated at £100bn over two years - will affect the economy long-term.
It will add to a national debt that is already more than £2.4trillion, increasing the amount we have to spend as a nation paying it back.
Add to that the fact she’s getting rid of tens of billions of pounds of tax rises, meaning if she wants to fund public services, she’ll have to find the money from somewhere else.
On top of this, she vowed to divert billions of pounds from the NHS into social care, by using the whole of a £12bn-a-year pot. That could leave a black hole.
She argues she is growing the economy, making the pie bigger for everyone. But Tories will complain she is being too loose with the purse strings, using up the money in the way Tories claimed Labour did in the 2008 financial crisis.
Labour and campaigners will fear she could cut public services if she’s not left with enough cash.
Tory unity - and what to do about Boris Johnson
The brutal blue-on-blue attacks of the Tory leadership race - and the hangover from ousting Boris Johnson - have left Conservative MPs divided.
Ms Truss will have to find a way to heal these wounds but she faces an uphill battle to win over MPs who backed other candidates.
Only 113 Conservatives chose Ms Truss in the final round of MP voting, compared to 137 parliamentarians who voted for her rival Rishi Sunak.
Keeping her restive party under control will be tricky, especially as MPs come under intense pressure from their constituents over the cost of living crisis.
What Boris Johnson does next could be critical. He still commands loyalty in Parliament and the wider party, with signs of buyer's remorse from those who ousted him.
He isn't in the Cabinet but Ms Truss could give him some sort of role to keep him busy, while he fills his depleted coffers by making speeches and writing books.
If he decides to throw his weight around, this will be very tricky for Ms Truss.
Partygate ‘lies’ investigation
Parliament’s Privileges Committee - led by Labour’s Harriet Harman - is still investigating whether Boris Johnson misled MPs over Partygate.
That will heat up considerably this autumn when the committee announces a date for the ousted Prime Minister to give evidence.
Expect the tension on Liz Truss - who supported Boris Johnson and didn’t quit his government - to ramp up, as will the attacks on the process from Mr Johnson’s allies.
During the leadership contest, Liz Truss said she would vote to scrap the Commons investigation if she had the choice.
Ukraine
In her first weeks as Prime Minister, Ms Truss is expected to travel to Kyiv to meet with the Ukrainian president, demonstrating the UK's continued support in the face of the Russian invasion.
During her first day in No 10 she held a call with President Zelensky where she "reiterated our steadfast support for Ukraine's freedom and democracy".
"Russia's attempt to weaponise energy must not deter the West. Ukraine can depend on the UK for support in the long term".
In recent days, Russian soldiers have been driven out of strongholds in Ukraine and lost major ground in the north-eastern region of Kharkiv from a counterattack.
Ms Truss and her officials will be monitoring the situation closely for developments.
Diplomatic relations
Despite clearing out most of Boris Johnson's No10 staff when she became Prime Minister, Ms Truss retained her predecessor's foreign policy adviser, Jon Bew.
This is perhaps a sign the new PM is not planning any major reset in diplomatic relations, but there are many Tory MPs advocating for a tougher line against China.
Over the summer she summoned the Chinese ambassador to the UK over the escalation in the region around Taiwan, and said "we have seen increasingly aggressive behaviour and rhetoric from Beijing in recent months".
The impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill - and Ms Truss's determination to see it through - could also continue to upset relations with the UK's closest ally, the US.
During the Tory leadership race she also prompted a backlash after suggesting the "jury's out" when questioned over whether the French president Emmanuel Macron was a "friend or foe".
Brexit
Despite Boris Johnson's claim he "got Brexit done", there is plenty still to resolve.
Thorny issues with trade to and from Northern Ireland continue to stoke tensions between London and Brussels and will need attention in the coming months.
The UK fuelled tensions by unilaterally continuing to suspend border checks agreed in Boris Johnson's Brexit deal - despite legal threats from the EU.
As Foreign Secretary, Ms Truss was in charge of trying to get the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill through the Commons, which enraged the EU by ripping apart Mr Johnson's Brexit agreement.
None of this will be simple to resolve. Ms Truss must balance Brexit hardliners in her own party and the unionists in Northern Ireland who hate the protocol with the EU - and the proudly Irish US President Joe Biden.
Scottish independence
Ms Truss made much of being a "child of the union" during the leadership race, telling Tory members about her years growing up in Paisley.
She is firmly opposed to offering another referendum on Scottish independence, which she says is a settled question after the 2014 vote.
But the new PM will have to face down Nicola Sturgeon, who reignited the battle over Scotland's constitutional future with a plan to pave the way for a second referendum in October next year.
Ms Sturgeon confirmed plans to bring forward a bill for another vote - if she gets the go-ahead from the UK Supreme Court - only days before the Queen's death.
There's clearly no love lost between Ms Truss and Scotland's First Minister, who spent the summer trading barbs.
Ms Truss branded Ms Sturgeon an "attention seeker" and said the best thing to do was "ignore her". The SNP leader got her own back by claiming Ms Truss quizzed her on how to get into Vogue magazine when they met last year.
Ethics advisor
Tory MPs got rid of Boris Johnson partly because, in many backbenchers’ view, he failed to live up to the expectations of a Prime Minister.
But Liz Truss risks repeating those problems if she refuses to appoint a new independent advisor on ministerial interests.
Two ethics chiefs quit under Boris Johnson after run-ins with the ex-PM, with the second blocked from being able to freely launch his own investigations into a sitting PM.
Downing Street has suggested she might abolish the role, while giving more oversight of ethics to the Chief Whip - who is still answerable to the PM.
Rwanda
Liz Truss - like most Tory MPs - is a long-time supporter of Priti Patel and Boris Johnson’s plan to deport Britain’s unwanted asylum seekers to Rwanda.
But the policy has been on hold for months after the European Court of Human Rights effectively blocked the first flight with minutes to spare.
It underwent a week-long challenge at the High Court and the judgement could be delivered around the end of October or beginning of November.
If the courts block the policy proper, expect a wave of attacks from right-wingers on the judges - and potentially, attempts to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights.
