Written by | Gao Yuyang Li Yan
Elizabeth Truss, the third female prime minister in British history, announced her resignation as head of the ruling Conservative Party after 45 days as prime minister, that is, automatically stepping down as British prime minister, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.
The Global Times quoted the British Sky News Network as saying that Graham Brady, chairman of the "1922 Committee", a group of Conservative MPs, said in Westminster Hall that the United Kingdom will elect a new prime minister by October 31. Truss himself said he would remain prime minister until a successor was chosen.
Less than 1 hour after the news of Truss' announcement of his resignation was released, the global network issued news that according to the latest news from The Times quoted by the British "Guardian", former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will participate in the Conservative Party leadership election.
The youngest Prime Minister in British history
On September 6, the day after being elected leader of the British Conservative Party, Elizabeth Truss accepted the official appointment of Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The 47-year-old Truss is the third female prime minister in British history and the youngest prime minister after Thatcher and Theresa May.
Truss joined the Conservative Party in 1996, was elected to the Conservative House of Commons in 2010, and has since held a number of positions in the governments led by Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson, where she was the first female Lord Justice of the House of Lords and Minister of Justice. In September 2021, she became Foreign Secretary, becoming the second female foreign secretary in British history.
In July 2022, Truss announced his candidacy for leader of the British Conservative Party and won the election on September 5.
The former prime minister expressed his candidacy
Less than an hour after Truss announced his resignation, the Global Times quoted relevant news that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will participate in the Conservative Party leadership race.
Johnson
Born in June 1964, Johnson was elected to parliament in June 2001. In May 2008, Johnson was elected Mayor of London and served as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from July 2019 to September 2022.
In September, Johnson resigned over events such as "Party Gate."
The "party door" incident dates back to the beginning of this year, when a "Christmas party" held by the Prime Minister's Office in violation of epidemic prevention regulations during the epidemic "lockdown" was exposed by the British media, and the Johnson government ignored its own epidemic prevention rules throughout the epidemic period, and organized "parties" many times to attract public attention, the event was called "party door".
In May, the British Cabinet released a full investigation into the "Partygate" incident. According to the report, a total of 16 parties hosted by the Prime Minister's Office and other government departments in 2020 and 2021 were investigated, many of which violated the pandemic regulations of the time, and high-level leaders involved in the gatherings must take responsibility for this ethos.
On September 6, Johnson gave a farewell speech. He highlighted his achievements as prime minister, including Brexit, vaccine delivery during the pandemic, early weapons to Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, Johnson also expressed displeasure with being forced to leave 10 Downing Street, saying that in this government "relay race" they "changed the rules halfway".
The introduction of massive tax cuts has caused a crisis
Back to Truss, who just announced his resignation, what happened during his 45-day term?
Zhengzhijun noted that many media had predicted that Truss might become the "shortest-lived" prime minister.
Truss's biggest attention, and the one that plunged him into crisis, was the massive tax cuts.
During his party campaign, Truss put forward a political vision of "low taxes, high growth." On September 23, the Truss government unveiled Britain's most aggressive tax cut since 1972, amounting to £45 billion, including:
- Lowering the base rate of personal income tax from 20% to 19%;
- abolishing the high income tax rate of 45%;
- rescind previously announced plans to raise corporate tax from 19% to 25%;
- Hold on health and social welfare taxes, among others, which are under discussion.
On the day of the plan's release, the pound fell in response, the pound fell by 3% against the dollar, and the stock market and British government bonds fell sharply.
The many negative voices of British public opinion have made Truss controversial when he first took office. Although there are many doubts, Truss has repeatedly said that he will not abandon the tax cut plan. However, this persistence did not last long.
As market pressure mounted, on October 2, Truss admitted that he had mishandled the tax cut case. On October 3, she said she would abandon some of the tax cuts.
Truss and Kwarten
Under the dual pressure of the market and public opinion, on October 14, Truss fired his former close friend and chancellor of the exchequer, Kwarten.
In fact, the aforementioned tax cuts were submitted by the black chancellor. At that time, the media commented that Kwarten and Truss jointly put "Truss economics" into practice.
After Kwoten left office, Truss urgently appointed Jeremy Hunt to take over as Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as Hunter took office, he drastically cut most of the policies related to the tax cuts. Since then, the UK financial market has picked up.
Subsequently, a number of Conservative MPs publicly demanded Truss's resignation, and calls for Truss' removal became louder and louder, and Truss was in deep crisis.
Why is stepping down as party leader considered resignation from the post of prime minister?
Why is stepping down as party leader considered resignation from the post of prime minister? This needs to start with the system produced by the British prime minister.
During general elections, the British people elect members of the House of Commons in each region, and these members form the House of Commons. The party that wins a majority in the House of Commons in the general election will form a new government, and the leader of the party (the party leader) will become the new British prime minister. And if the party leader changes, it also means a change of prime minister.
According to media reports, Truss will temporarily assume the post of British prime minister until a new leader of the Conservative Party is elected.
In 2019, Johnson's Conservative Party and Labour Party opened a snap election ahead of the historic decision to leave the European Union. In that election, the Conservatives won a majority of seats by a landslide, and Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
This summer, Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party over scandals such as "Partygate", and Truss, who ran for the new head of the party through an intra-party campaign, subsequently became British prime minister.
Information | CCTV Global Network Cailian
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