Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: On 6 September 2022, Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson to become Queen Elizabeth II's 15th and last prime minister of the United Kingdom.Two days later, the queen was dead.Following a short period of official mourning, Truss and her Chancellor of the Exchequer 1 Kwasi Kwarteng launched a 'mini-budget' which was intended to cut taxes dramatically without any immediate matching spending cuts.Coming on top of an earlier (and potentially extremely expensive) commitment to subsidising energy prices, this sparked a serious financial crisis.This led to Truss dismissing Kwarteng and installing a new chancellor, who then scrapped almost the entire proposed fiscal package.This U-turn, together with bond-buying by the Bank of England to stave off a potential collapse of pension funds, stabilised the markets.However, she had been compromised by this reversal of her signature policy, became subject to public ridicule, and quickly lost the support of the parliamentary Conservative Party.She had little option but to resign as Conservative leader and prime minister on 20 October after just 44 days in 10 Downing Street.Five days later she was replaced as prime minister by Rishi Sunak.This was the shortest period of office of any British prime minister.
Source: Economic Affairs
DOI: 10.1111/ecaf.12695
Author: J R Shackleton
Institution: University of Buckingham
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,900
OpenAlex ID: W4407103278