Liz Truss resigned as the Conservative party leader just 45 days after being elected to that position. She was forced out by her backbenchers because of a disastrously misjudged mini-budget, concerns about her competency and a catastrophic collapse in the Conservatives’ poll ratings. She is now destined to become the shortest serving head of government in British history.
Opposition politicians are now demanding an early general election. Such demands are entirely normal when an incumbent prime minister steps down midway through a parliament. The standard argument for going to the country is straightforward. Voters at the last election gave their backing for someone else to be prime minister, and the governing party’s mandate was tied to that individual. Moreover, whoever becomes the new prime minister will not have been chosen by voters, and they or their government will not have a mandate.
