Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak: The Revolving Door of the Conservative Party
By Jack Blitzer ‘24
In the midst of a wild storm of criticism regarding economic policy, Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation in a speech outside her official residence at 10 Downing Street last Thursday, October 20.
This announcement officially condemned her to the title of shortest tenured British Prime Minister in history. She was replaced by Rishi Sunak five days later.
A member of the Conservative Party of Britain, Ms. Truss won a leadership race within the Conservative Party, and she became Boris Johnson’s successor. Despite receiving less support from members of Parliament compared to her chief rival Rishi Sunak, Ms. Truss was elected to the job after winning a vote conducted by 160,000 members of the Conservative Party, the current party running Britain's government. Despite the change in leader, the party is not obligated to call a general election, which could take them out of power, until 2025.
Over the course of the election process that led up to the election of Ms. Truss, Mr. Sunak expressed deep concern regarding the aggressiveness of Ms. Truss’ proposed plans. Despite taking on the role at a time of high economic uncertainty, Ms. Truss announced aggressive economic plans, such as tax cuts and free-market economics, prompting a panicked response from investors across the globe. In the midst of the fervor, Ms. Truss was forced to roll back almost all of her proposed reforms before their implementation.
Along with this move, Ms. Truss also fired the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s top finance official, Kwasi Kwarteng. Following the exit of Mr. Kwarteng, Ms. Truss then decided to implement the economic structure favored by Mr. Sunak, and many other members of the party’s more moderate wing, which consisted primarily of raising taxes as opposed to cutting them. After this economic reversal only served to put Ms. Truss under even more pressure, she announced her resignation.
Since the Conservative Party is not obliged to call a general election under British Law, Ms. Truss’ successor was to be selected strictly by members of Parliament, in a record short time span of less than a week. Initial candidates to succeed Ms. Truss were thought to be Mr. Sunak, Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt. Mr. Johnson and Ms. Mordaunt both dropped out of the race by Monday, October 24, the deadline to declare candidacy, paving the way for Mr. Sunak to assume the nation’s top public post.
The youngest Prime Minister in the nation’s history at 42, Mr. Sunak has seen a rapid ascent through British political ranks in recent years, serving as Mr. Johnson’s Chancellor of the Exchequer from February 2020 to July 2022 before challenging Ms. Truss in this summer’s leadership race. Mr. Sunak has faced criticism for his extreme wealth, with many in the opposition Labour Party feeling that Mr. Sunak cannot connect with the majority of the population on many issues, especially those concerning taxes and wealth in general.
In a bid to keep some semblance of continuity with the tenures of Mr. Johnson and Ms. Truss, Mr. Sunak’s cabinet features many of the same members as his predecessors, including Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor, Dominic Raab as Deputy Prime Minister, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary, Ben Wallace as Defense Secretary, Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, and Michael Gove as Levelling Up Secretary.
While he attempts to rebuild the reputation of his embattled party, Mr. Sunak is facing a dire economic crisis, and he is pinning his hopes of success in office on more moderate economic policy and continuity in his leadership group.
