There was much excitement beforehand about what the British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, would announce.

Truss stated that he had informed King Charles that he was stepping down as leader of the Conservative party, and thus he was stepping down as Prime Minister.

– I admit, given the situation, that I cannot live up to the mandate that I have been voted for by the conservative party, Truss said during a press conference on Thursday.

Truss said he took office at a time of “great economic and international instability”. He said he could not pass on the mandate he was voted for by Tory MPs.

Truss did not answer questions from the press present.

Janne Haaland Matlary is a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo. He told TV 2 it was an avoidable situation for Truss.

– There is an unstable political situation for the government in Great Britain, so they must have a stable system of government. Britain needed stable leadership, he said.

Will choose a successor next week

Elections for the new leader of the Conservative Party will take place next week.

Truss is said to have agreed on this with the chairman of the 1922 party committee, Sir Graham Brady.

It’s currently unclear who will be Truss’ successor, but it is a top candidate.

“This way, we will stay on track to fulfill our promise,” Truss said before he left the podium in Downing Street on Thursday.

Budget line

No prime minister has come shorter than Truss by 45 days in the prime minister’s chair.

Discontent within parts of the party emerged as a result of the controversial budget proposal put forward by Truss and his then finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, in September. Kwarteng was also sacked on Friday.

Extensive tax cuts for the wealthiest and businesses have been harshly criticized.

Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer has called new elections in Britain soon after Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation.

– The conservative party has demonstrated that it no longer has a mandate to govern, says Starmer Sky News.

Liberal Democrat leaders also joined suit.

– Boris Johnson failed our country and Liz Truss destroyed the economy. The Conservatives have repeatedly shown they are not cut out to lead our country, said party leader Ed Davey.

UK expert and senior lecturer at the University of Agder, Erik Mustad, believes Truss completely misinterpreted the economic situation when he presented the tax cuts.

– That’s wrong because of this mini-budget with drastic tax cuts. Tax cuts that are intolerable to the current British economy, Mustad told TV 2.

– We have witnessed a political circus in the last week that I don’t remember seeing people like that in my years of following British politics, he said.

Expected earlier

Sky News announced ahead of the press conference that the Prime Minister would announce his resignation.

According to a journalist on British television channel ITV, a member of the 1922 committee said that the chances of British Prime Minister Liz Truss remaining in office until the end of her days as Prime Minister were slim. Reuters reported this earlier on Thursday.

1922 committee decides which rules apply to the election and replacement of party leaders in the United Kingdom.