Why did Liz Truss's time as UK prime minister end? - BBC News

when a prime minister takes office there's no time limit no fixed number of terms their leadership stretches out in front of us Margaret Thatcher stood down after 11 years Tony Blair served 10. recently though we've had four prime ministers in six years all of them conservatives David Cameron left Downing Street after the brex info Theresa May then had three years before Tory MPS intervened it was the same for Boris Johnson and in early September it was the turn of Liz Truss I'm honored to take on this responsibility weeks later at its annual conference the Tory party chair said Liz truss was its greatest asset to win the next election she is the woman who will get Britain moving that though is not going to happen anymore wow one of the shortest lives premierships ever let's trust his time is over when it had only just begun hello welcome well this is unexpected not of course being here for a new series looking at the biggest stories of the week I just hadn't necessarily factored in doing our first episode on the day the Prime Minister resigns but here we are and across the next 30 minutes this is the story of the fall of Liz truss because it's been quite a week hello hi guys we're probably still a few minutes away oh are you okay we will reverse almost all the tax measures Gone Gone a complete reversal Gone Gone clearly traconomics have gone gone he has locked her in the attic and simply taken over no Authority no credibility what is the point of her government I will leave the conservatives into the next general election definitely but look I don't think that there's the opportunity to make any more mistakes well no one wants to make mistakes I have made development has resigned I really am getting fed up with this I saw members being physically manhandled to shambles in a disgrace there has been an element of confusion there's quite a lot of turmoil in the party what the crocodile is going on Liz truss is currently meeting sir Graham Brady I am resigning as leader of the conservative party [Music] think about everything that had already happened the disastrous mini budget the markets forcing you turn after U-turn the chancellor being sacked this trust was already under pressure but Monday morning was a chance to reset dramatic news to start the week here at Westminster this truss had a new Chancellor Jeremy hunts yes was the answer because with feverish speculation about what the markets might do next his immediate task was to calm them we will reverse almost all the tax measures announced in the growth plan three weeks ago this can reasonably be called the biggest U-turn in British economic history or as one Tory MP put it well her Central prospectus has been uh uh you know consigned to the uh to the history books or to the recycling bin or whatever it may happen to be the government's intervention though did serve its immediate purpose the markets calmed the politics though didn't and as we headed into Monday afternoon the opposition labor party had tabled a question for the government but it was cabinet minister Penny Morden not Liz truss who came to answer the absence was noted and all we know right now is unless she tells us otherwise that the prime minister is cowering under her desk and asking for it all to go away well the prime minister is not uh under a desk [Applause] wherever she had been Liz truss then appeared and we watched and she watched as Jeremy Hunt dismantled her policies we remain completely committed to our mission to go for growth but growth requires confidence and stability which is why we are taking many difficult decisions starting today difficult decisions said the chancellor and those decisions were made necessary in part by the mini budget and the whole that it had created in the public finances and even after Jeremy hunted rode back on most of Liz truss's tax cuts the increased cost of borrowing well that meant the government still had to find 30 to 40 billion pounds in savings to do that to close this so-called black hole while the government was now turning to spending cuts and to get a sense of whether those cuts could have been avoided I went to see the BBC's economics editor Faisal Islam Hi-Fi hello yeah um it's okay okay all right now you're our economics editor but before you did this job you were Sky's political editor so you can look at this story from the economic side the political side as well is the push for cuts now fundamentally a political decision from the government or an economic one it's necessity post a shock and some of that shock has been of the government's own making this shock has meant that interest rates have gone up higher than they would have otherwise means the economy will be slower it isn't everything the fact that we are facing an energy shock from Russia's invasion of Ukraine the fact that across the world interest rates are going up that's also a factor that's worsened our borrowing and means that there's a sort of Bridge to cross and will cause a squeeze it's difficult to demarcate precisely whether it's sort of 50 50 or 20 80 or 80 20 but there's no doubt that many billions half at least actually of the 30 to 40 billion pounds uh hole that we're trying to fill with spending cuts that that's come either from the direct decisions of the mini budget to cut taxes elsewhere or from the economic impact The Unwanted economic impact of all this uncertainty so let's consider the point we'd reached the tax cuts were largely gone the spending cuts were coming and Liz truss while she was pushing on her party chairman was telling us she's bringing the party together and on Monday evening she met a group of Tory MPS the times reported a relatively calm reception one MP though told the BBC it's the first time I've heard a corpse deliver its own eulogy by this point number 10 had also suggested a BBC interview took place and our political editor Chris Mason was asking the questions prime minister who is to blame for this mess well first of all I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made sorry said Liz truss but as Chris noted afterwards she knows her staff know the dogs in the street know she is seriously imperiled at the moment please trust insists she will lead the conservatives into the next election as despite calls from within her own party to quit as prime minister Tuesday morning would offer no respite normally supported papers showed no mercy the son called Liz truss the ghost PM the male declared in office but not in power and below it described a haunted prime minister the polling was unremitting too Hugo found that Liz truss's approval rating was 10 percent the lowest rating it had ever recorded for a prime minister and you might look at that and think those kind of numbers would be the end of the matter not so said the defense minister James heapey my sense is that there are dozens of colleagues in the Parliamentary party who are gravely concerned over the way that the last few weeks have gone but they like me recognize that this is not the time to be changing leader again well as we now know it is the time for the Tories to be changing leader again and even on Tuesday some of its MPS seem to be hoping for that the MP for high peak Robert Lagan shared a blog post titled the dangers of dumpster fires he went on I firmly believe that we need to tackle dumpster fires when they occur regardless of how messy or unappealing this may be but to borrow from CNN's Jake Tapper this is becoming a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck and no one seems sure what to do meanwhile the work of government went on including new laws on protests [Music] climate activists selected a number of targets this week a bridge roads a painting Harrods milk they say the world's facing an existential crisis but not everyone was convinced by the approach they saw childish Petty pathetic vandalism they've lost me forever wrote lbc's Andrew Marr the context here though is that climate change is happening Global emissions are going up so are temperatures and this week the death toll from flooding in Nigeria passed 600 the UN says climate change is responsible the UN has also said this recently the collective commitments of G20 governments are coming far too little and far too late there is of course a debate about what to do about climate change and the merits of these protests and facing all of this was the then Home Secretary who laid out measures to restrict the protests she also took aim it's the Coalition of chaos it's the guardian reading [Applause] I have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today that's why the brahman's bill to allow stricter policing past the House of Commons but that anti-tofi rhetoric would be her last contribution as Home Secretary which leads us to Wednesday this is LBC news this truss is preparing for another difficult day out of the blue the Home Secretary was gone in theory over sending an official document from a personal email her resignation letter though went much further advising Liz trust that pretending we haven't made mistakes carrying on as if everyone can't see that we've made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics appealed for serious politics conservative MP Bob Seely spoke to LBC good afternoon I mean I actually just want to apologize uh I really am getting fed up with this soap drama as much as your listeners are Mr Seeley was fed up his fellow Tory MP Grant shaps had a new job he's a former transport secretary he voted remain in the brexit referendum he's considered a moderate and recently he's been publicly criticizing Liz truss over her tax cuts now he was in her cabinet evening everyone um look obviously it's been turbulent time Mr chaps spoke to the press for a minute and 42 seconds he repeatedly mentioned the chancellor Jeremy Hunt at no point did he mention Liz Truss the whole week was becoming a test of her leadership and so as Wednesday afternoon turned to evening I wanted an assessment of how she'd done in the week so far few people are better plugged in to Tory MPS than the daily telegraphs Christopher hope his newsletter and podcast as well as his WhatsApp are full of MP's thoughts and I've pulled together some clips from the week to show him so I've decided that the basic rate of income tax will remain at 20 percent look at that mask on the truster's face indefinitely so this is Jeremy Hunt dismantling everything that Liz trust has been said it's a political disembowelment I've never seen in 20 years covering British Politics the measures I've announced today my teenage children will say hashtag Orcs year prime minister who is to blame for this mess well first of all I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made this was the first time we'd heard the word sorry yeah I would say about time I mean I've been saying in my journalism that that sorry word was acquired at the Tory Party Conference when she all she said was I get it and that wasn't enough for many people then it was into Wednesday into prime minister's questions and of course all eyes were on how the Prime Minister would go 45 tax cut gone corporation tax cut gone 20p tax cut gone two-year energy freeze gone they enjoyed this didn't they yeah it's a good device this economic credibility normally the rule of three says three things work but there's so many u-turns you have to keep going through about six or seven of them and by the end we forgot what he was saying they're all gone and she stands up and and then tries to put it back on starmer by quoting a figure from the past I am a fighter and not a quetter Peter mandelson 2001. I am a fighter and not a quitter last week the Prime Minister stood there and promised absolutely no spending reductions they all cheered this week the chancellor announced a new wave of cuts she's learned that you can't shortcut and go ahead of the experts and it may be going back to a bit of the brexit debate when the conservative party used to be the party that was conserving institutions but they seemed to reinvent themselves since brexit as one which doesn't trust institutions doesn't trust experts can the prime minister time to have Chancellor right now get permission to make another U-turn and commit to raising the state pension at the rate of inflation [Applause] I honestly don't know what the honorable gentleman is talking about because I would argue that's not a U-turn that's as clarifying in an uncertain position we have been clear in our Manifesto sustain the triple lock and I am completely committed to it so is the chancellor this though does come across now there's a government which can't quite decide what it's doing the express said in its front page on Wednesday morning don't do it prime minister and that seemed to me like a red line and if they're saying don't do it it was quite serious and that probably triggered the response those headlines this trust mines what the express is saying oh I think so yeah yeah I definitely think so does your mind what the telegraph says what we say too this is the base that no completes prime minister's questions before you go you've got your phone down there I'm interested how many messages have you got from Tory MP you have to tell me them but I'm interested how busy does your WhatsApp get on a day like this just in the short while we've been sitting with each other normally pinging away there it goes it's going off no way already okay ding ding ding let's not be that one out on air really so I better go now nice to see you thanks [Music] now those messages coming into Christopher we're bringing news of a further escalation I think this might be it he told me as we packed up and that's because this is what had happened there was a vote on the issue of fracking but there was also confusion over whether there was a three-line whip which would mean severe consequences for any conservative MP who voted against the government the labor MP Chris Bryant tweeted this photo from the division Lobby I saw members being physically manhandled into another Lobby and being bullied the business secretary though had a different version of events this confusion on whether or not it was a confidence vote was something people needed a further conversation on the government won that vote but the Tory MP Ben Bradley was also posting this on tick tock what on Earth is going on in the House of Commons it wasn't an easy question to answer and then came the moment live on BBC News when for many it felt like the dam had broken I'm livid and you know I really shouldn't say this but I hope all those people that put this trust in number 10 I hope it was worth it I hope it was worth it for the ministry or Redbox I hope it was worth it to sit around the cabinet table because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary the conservative MP Johnny Mercer retweeted that video adding F me he's nailed it every word the conservative MP Maria Caulfield wrote tonight we are all Charles Walker and the confusion deepened further after reports the chief Whip and Deputy Whip was saying that they had resigned we were then told they hadn't and the BBC's News at 10 wants a clear one thing up is this government functioning in any meaningful way no and this day when the government was self-combusting was also a day a profound worry for many figures show the cost of living is rising at the fastest rate for 40 years it's life like for you at the moment trying to trying to get by very hard it's very very hard and the rate of inflation is back in double figures looking to 10.1 percent pension 140 pound a week how do you live on that we're currently going to a remortgaging process already it's becoming clear that the events of the last few weeks are having a massive impact on that's higher food prices were mainly to blame they were up 14 and a half percent the number of children turning up to school not having breakfast not having showers it is the 14th month of relentlessly Rising food prices energy bills may rise above four thousand pounds in April I can't afford to put my heating on I live on 250 pounds per month every single morning at a set time I write down what's left on it to see how much I've used it's all above my price range it doesn't feel like living Thursday brought the morning after the night before and it began with calls for calm well it's quite clear that there are quite there's quite a lot of turmoil in the party but what we all need to do is keep calm heads and work to resolve it and I'm confident that we can do that but the cracks were soon showing is Liz truss the best that the conservative party has the best person the conservative party can offer to be prime minister today this trust is the prime minister because our system of selection I understand why we continue we continue to support her and through the morning the number of MPS calling for Liz trust to go was increasing some were even releasing letters on social media Sky News began keeping an on-screen tally and one Minister told Sky we live day by day who am I kidding actually we live hour by hour the party has had a collective breakdown and as MPS gathered in the House of Commons on Thursday morning labor tabled an urgent question about swella braven's resignation Yvette Cooper had this summary of events the Home Secretary has been sacked the chancellor sacked the chief whip sack and then unsacked and the unedifying scenes of conservative MPS last night fighting like rats in a sack this is a disgrace I bet Cooper wasn't done there she also had this question to quote the former Home Secretary this is indeed a total Coalition of chaos why should the country have to put up with this for a single extra day it wouldn't have to because shortly after lunchtime sir gray and Brady who represents Tory MPS walked into Downing Street he was there for a meeting requested by Liz truss and from that point things move quickly at 1 20 PM my colleague Nick edley had this update we're going to hear from the prime minister in the next 10 minutes Ben no word yet from number 10. about what exactly she is going to say the podium was out and just after half past one the moment came I cannot deliver the Mandate on which I was elected by the conservative party I have therefore spoken to his majesty the king to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the conservative party and as we look forward let's also look back to August to the Holiday Inn in Norwich it's early evening and Liz truss is making her pitch to Tory party members I'm somebody who is prepared to take action to do what it takes to fix the issues our country has the members were persuaded her campaign led to Downing Street she was prime minister two days later the queen died politics paused but it would return with a Vengeance the mini budget the u-turns the resignations the farce and confusion the humiliation of seeing her own government dismantling her ideas it was all too much this trust had lost control and just like that she was gone goodbye [Music] [Music]

Channel: BBC News

Views: 992,089

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news

Id: 1kNSoNrthKg

Length: 23min 24sec (1404 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022