UK PM Liz Truss resigns after 45 days; shortest serving British PM

Truss admitted that she had lost the trust of her party by failing to deliver on the pledges she made while vying for Conservative leader.

"Given the situation, I cannot carry out the mandate for which I was elected. I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen," she said.

A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss.

"This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We've agreed that there will be a leadership election, to be completed within the next week. This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country's economic stability and national security," she told reporters.

Truss, who took office on September 6, was obliged to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and renounce nearly all of her economic plans when their proposals for massive unfunded tax cuts collapsed the pound and British bonds.

Since then, her and her Conservative Party's approval ratings have plummeted.

On Wednesday, she lost the second of the government's four most senior ministers, was mocked as she sought to defend her record in parliament, and witnessed her lawmakers openly disagree on policy, adding to the air of disarray at Westminster.

As the economy enters recession and inflation reaches a 40-year high, new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt is scrambling to find tens of billions of pounds in expenditure cuts to calm investors and recover Britain's fiscal image.