Liz Truss resigns as PM after just 45 days in Downing Street
Liz Truss has announced she is resigning as prime minister after just 45 days in office.
There will be a leadership election within a week, Ms Truss said.
Sir Graham Brady said members have been consulted about the leadership process and a new prime minister will be decided by the end of next week - before the fiscal statement on 31 October.
Ms Truss’ brief stint as leader involved a mini-Budget that spooked the market, the sacking of her close ally and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, the resignation of home secretary Suella Braverman and chaos in Westminster around a confidence vote where there were allegations of senior Tories manhandling and bullying colleagues.
Just yesterday she told PMQs she is a “fighter not a quitter.”
Conservative MP Simon Hoare said Liz Truss only had 12 hours to save her premiership while Lord David Frost, a former Brexit minister who backed Truss for PM, called for her to go in addition to more than a dozen MPs.