Ms. Truss’s departure after six weeks in office came as virtually all of her signature tax cuts were being reversed, a stark repudiation of her leadership.
LONDON — Hours after Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain announced her resignation on Thursday, British Conservatives began setting out a plan to replace her in just a week — a quick end for the shortest tenure ever for a British prime minister. Her potential successors include key figures from her cabinet, former rivals for leadership of the party and even Boris Johnson, who had his own messy departure from Downing Street just last month.
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Ms. Truss stepped down days after her new finance minister reversed virtually all of her planned tax cuts, one of the most dramatic reversals in modern British political history. It swept away a free-market fiscal agenda that had plunged the country into economic and political turmoil.
One week is an extraordinarily quick turnaround for a leadership election, but the procedure for selecting Ms. Truss’s successor is beginning to take shape. Rules announced Thursday evening will require potential candidates to have a minimum of 100 nominations to take part. With 357 Conservative lawmakers in Parliament, the contest could be effectively over when nominations close on Monday afternoon.
The British pound and government bond prices inched higher after the announcement, but the market’s reaction was muted. While the change brings a firm end to Ms. Truss’s tax-cutting economic agenda, it introduces even more political instability to Britain at a time when households and businesses are grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.
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