Anyone who has seen debates from the House of Commons knows that the tone in British politics is a few notches harsher than in Norway. But the pressure against Liz Truss is quite special even on a British scale. Now she can get the record as the shortest-serving prime minister in the country’s long political history. The demands that Truss must resign do not only come from the opposition. They come from several key politicians in her own conservative party who have had more than enough after just six weeks. Since she took over the prime minister’s job from Boris Johnson, things have gone downhill. Two days after the takeover, Queen Elizabeth died. When the mourning period was over, her then finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng put forward plans to implement sweeping tax cuts. Cuts that Truss had promised in the election campaign to become the new prime minister. The financial markets reacted by sending the pound into the basement. The British central bank had to step in with giant sums in an attempt to save people’s pensions. Before the weekend, the British got their fourth Chancellor of the Exchequer in four months when Liz Truss sacked Kwarteng for implementing her tax policy. Jeremy Hunt took over, and has virtually changed the entire economic policy on which she won the prime ministership. Now many believe that Liz Truss is no longer the boss and that she must step down. Bad start It has not been a good start for Truss as Prime Minister. Her starting point was not very good either. It is only six weeks since Liz Truss moved into Number 10 Downing Street as Britain’s new Prime Minister. Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP When she won the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party this summer, it was with a smaller majority over rival Rishi Sunak than expected among party members. And she was not the favorite among the politicians in the House of Commons. Now there are secret meetings and talk in the corridors about removing her, just weeks after she started the job. Three Conservative MPs have gone public with demands that Liz Truss must resign. Several are conspiring in the background to add their voice to the public pressure. At the same time, the discussion goes on loudly about how the party can change the rules so that Truss is not protected from being fired for a whole year from the time she took office. Comeback for Boris Johnson? The blunders have increased the likelihood of a comeback for Johnson, according to British media. They also write that Liz Truss’ rival in the fight to become prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is a likely heir. The economic policy Liz Truss is now delivering through her new finance minister is more similar to the one Sunak campaigned on than the one Truss won with. Other possible future Prime Ministers are Ben Wallace, Penny Mordaunt and the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt. The former Culture Minister Nadine Dorries, on the other hand, believes the party has only one choice: – Either we support Liz, or we bring back Boris. The alternative is new elections in a few weeks. And that is something the Conservative Party does not want right now. Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister six weeks ago. Now there is talk of a comeback. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP The party has plummeted in the opinion polls after the so-called mini-budget with the big tax cuts was put forward. – You simply cannot lead the country in this way, says historian Anthony Seldon to Sky News. – Unparalleled He has, among other things, written political biographies of the former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May. – This is without parallel. We have never before seen such a rapid replacement of finance ministers and prime ministers at the same time within one party. Seldon believes the political chaos is exacerbated by the fact that there has also been a change of monarch and that the country is in an economic crisis. – If there is another change of prime minister now, it is unheard of. You simply cannot lead a country in this way, says the historian. Scrapping the Prime Minister’s tax cuts One of the many who believe Liz Truss will be forced to resign in the coming months is the former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. – At the moment she is SKINNY, prime minister in name only (PINO, Prime Minister In Name Only), says Osborne to Channel 4. He thinks Truss is out before Christmas, and believes that it is Jeremy Hunt who is now in practice leading the country. Jeremy Hunt is Britain’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has completely changed the course of economic policy. Photo: HENRY NICHOLLS / Reuters This morning he scrapped Liz Truss’ economic policy. He reverses almost all the tax cuts in the so-called mini-budget. The VAT is still not reduced from 20 to 19 per cent. He does not lower corporate tax. He shortens the period of time the household’s energy subsidy must last. – It is not right to finance this by borrowing more money, said Hunt. He says with that that the boss’s policy is not responsible. The new finance minister had to take action to calm the financial market, which has been chaotic in recent weeks. The central bank’s support purchases ended before the weekend. They intended to secure people’s pension payments. Now the Bank of England also announces a sharp increase in interest rates. So it will be seen whether this, combined with the now announced exchange rate change, is enough to stabilize the British economy. It is unlikely to be enough to remove the pressure on Liz Truss.
ttn-69
Liz Truss risks being fired as British Prime Minister – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
