Since 1827, the shortest tenure of a UK prime minister had been that of George Canning, who worked for 118 days until dying in office.
Now, after just six weeks at work, PM Liz Truss will wear that crown.
Yesterday, Truss announced plans to resign in a bid to address economic turmoil brought on during her short tenure.
What happened?
Truss’ government tried enacting the UK’s largest tax cuts since the 1970s, mostly aimed at wealthy Britons and corporations.
With inflation sitting north of 10%, policies meant to stimulate further spending immediately sounded investors’ alarm bells.
In anticipation that the central bank would have to raise interest rates to curtail inflation, foreign investors began fleeing — driving the pound to record lows against the dollar.
So what now?
Truss tried remedying the situation by firing her treasury chief and scrapping the plans, but it was too late. She ranks as the lowest-polling British leader in history, and 35% of UK companies say the turmoil has impacted their business.
Of course, the memes were out in full force. British tabloid Daily Star had even been livestreaming a head of lettuce under the banner: “Can Liz Truss outlast a lettuce?”
She could not, and an election will be held next week to find a replacement.
