King Charles III has accepted the resignation of Liz Truss as Prime Minister after just 49 days.
A release from Buckingham Palace said the King was “graciously pleased” to accept Ms Truss’ resignation as she became the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history.
The statement said: “The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP had an audience of The King this morning and tendered her resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which His Majesty was graciously pleased to accept.”
Ms Truss will be replaced by Rishi Sunak when he meets King Charles III later today.
In her final speech as Prime Minister, Ms Truss warned the nation continues to “battle through a storm” but insisted she believes that “brighter days lie ahead”.
Speaking from Downing Street, Ms Truss said: “From my time as Prime Minister I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country. We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.”
Ms Truss made no apologies for the disastrous mini-budget that sparked financial turmoil and led to the chaotic end of her premiership.
She continued to stand by her tax-cutting ideals, despite being forced to reverse most of her policies when new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was brought in to clear up the mess.
She cited one of Brexit’s benefits as “lower taxes, so people keep more of the money they earn”, before wishing Mr Sunak “every success, for the good of our country”.
Mr Sunak won the Tory leadership contest on Monday without a vote after rivals Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson dropped out of the race.
Allies hope he will stabilise the party following Mr Johnson’s dramatic downfall and his successor’s fleeting but tumultuous tenure.
The former chancellor is expected to quickly begin assembling a top team to portray a measure of stability to both the Conservatives and the country.
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