The keys to understanding the political chaos that ended the government of Liz Truss, the shortest in the history of the United Kingdom

After having replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister just a month and a half ago, Liz Truss he just resigned from office.

The chaos, annoyance and outrage in the country were such that some media outlets were questioning whether Truss would outlast a head of lettuce, while others were making controversial comparisons with Italy, claiming that their country is becoming more politically like its neighbor to the south. , infamous for its constant political instability.

LOOK: Who are the main candidates to replace Liz Truss and how is the election process

Simon Hoare, a prominent MP from the Truss-led Conservative party, warned Thursday morning that the prime minister had “12 hours” to save her job.

Crispin Blunt, another Conservative MP, judged the prime minister’s position as “totally unsustainable“, at a time when a growing number of MPs were saying that Liz Truss’s time was up.

And they were right. A couple of hours later, Truss announced his departure and went down in history as the one who has lasted the shortest time at the helm of the second largest economy in Europe.

It is an unprecedented crisis in British political history that began shortly after Truss took office and deepened last week when he fired his finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, after changing his mind on a controversial economic program that caused turmoil in the financial markets and caused the pound sterling sank to a 37-year low against the dollar.

Many of his supporters felt cheated, as it was a program that he claimed during the election campaign would boost the country’s stagnant economy.

Adding to the drama and chaos within the now-defunct Truss government, his home secretary resigned on Wednesday for breaking ministerial code by sending an official document from his personal email.

In her resignation letter, Suella Braverman expressed her “concern” for the direction the government was taking and criticized that “key promises” made to voters had been broken.

“We use terms like ‘unprecedented’ a lot in political comments. But the last few weeks, and certainly the last 24 hours, are unlike anything I’ve seen,” Rod Dacombe, director of the Center for Politics, tells BBC Mundo. and British Government from King’s College London.

“The transformation of the Conservative Party from the 2019 General Election, where it won a large majority, to what can only be described as chaos, has been extraordinary…the reputation of the Conservative Party has been badly damaged, perhaps irreparably”he adds.

Liz Truss walks into Downing St with her husband after quitting. (REUTERS).

Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer has called for a general election, but Truss announced his party would hold a vote to choose a new Conservative leader.

According to analysts, it can be said that this latest crisis shows that the political stability that characterized the United Kingdom for many years is a thing of the past.

In this article we explain the keys to understanding chaos which ended the newly appointed government of Liz Truss.

His radical bet to revive the economy

From her first day in office, Liz Truss’s government faced several challenges, such as the war in Ukraine, the threat of secession from Scotland, a serious energy crisis and runaway inflation that increasingly affects the pockets of millions. of British.

In an already delicate situation, the Truss government chose to announce a controversial package that, according to her, would boost the country’s economy.

The plan included removing the 45% rate of income tax paid by people earning more than £150,000 a year ($168,000).

The income tax reduction for the richest It would have represented a tax saving of nearly $3,400 a year for someone earning £200,000 a year ($224,000).

Truss also announced a cut in the basic income tax rate from 20% to 19% and the also controversial elimination of the cap on incentives or salary bonuses for bankers, which can sometimes exceed a million dollars.

Rishi Sunak is the bookies’ favorite to replace Truss. (REUTERS).

But the fiscal package caused days of turmoil in financial markets and sent the pound falling against the dollar to record lows.

Liz Truss fired her finance minister and rescinded most of the measures she had announced.

The promise of a “Singapore on the Thames”

Vernon Bogdanor, a political scientist and historian at King’s College London, says the current crisis was partly to blame for the influence of the right-wing wing of the Conservative party that supports Brexit and promised to turn London into “Singapore on the Thames”. “.

“They claimed that tax cuts would spur growth and create a Britain that would pioneer global free trade: a Singapore on the Thames“, he tells BBC Mundo.

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“Instead, tax cuts financed with borrowed money spooked the markets. Instead of a Singapore on the Thames, we are seeing what one commentator described as Caracas on the Thames. Consequently, the prime minister lost her authority,” adds the British political scientist.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Truss confessed her mistakes but was adamant that she would lead her party in the next election.

British political expert Rod Dacombe explains that Truss has made “numerous mistakes” throughout his tenure.

“He pushed too hard, too fast, with economic reforms,” ​​he says.

Other mistakes, according to Dacombe, were his “inability to manage the various factions of his party” and the “disastrous mismanagement” of parliamentary affairs that became apparent on Wednesday night.

Loss of allies and credibility

In her resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street, her residence as prime minister, Truss acknowledged that she was unable to “fulfill the mandate for which I was elected” by members of the Conservative Party.

After reversing her growth plan, Liz Truss began to receive criticism from her own parliamentary allies.

Liz Truss announced her resignation after several Conservative MPs asked her to leave. (AP AVERAGE).

The dismissal of Kwarteng, a former finance minister, and the resignation this Wednesday of her interior minister, Suella Braverman, left her even more isolated.

So isolated that Truss had to turn to former rivals, such as Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt, to fill the vacant positions.

By midday Thursday, more than a dozen Conservatives had called on him to resign.

Following his resignation, Truss will remain in the role until his replacement is announced, following a leadership contest expected to take place next week.

Rod Dacombe says the Conservative Party will try to nominate a candidate who can unite the various factions of the party.

“But it is unlikely that they will find it. Boris Johnson seems set to come forward, which will be highly divisive. Rishi Sunak (former economy minister) is also a possible candidate, he continues.

“If the Conservatives can’t find someone to bring the various factions of the party together, a general election seems inevitable.”

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Chris Mason Analysis

BBC political editor

It’s amazing. Just three and a half months ago, we were in the same place announcing the resignation of the previous Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Here we are, just 100 days laterand her successor, Liz Truss, follows the same path and pronounces a very similar set of words.

And the chaos will deepen. In the coming days another prime minister will emerge.

Conservative MPs hope to draw a name from their ranks to avoid a competition between members of the Conservative Party, which would take several months to replace the country’s leader.

The next prime minister, if they manage to find someone who can unite the party, they will be faced with the big question of whether he is legitimate or not.

But we must remember, constitutionally, we live in a parliamentary democracy and if a new prime minister can get a majority in the House of Commons, he has a constitutional right to serve until the next general election legally takes place.

Source: Elcomercio