Liz Truss, we hardly knew ye’

Welp. The lettuce won. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned yesterday after 45 days in office, becoming the shortest-serving PM in British history – and triggering the second UK leadership election in less than four months.

🇬🇧📅 Background… Truss' resignation came less than a month after she, along with former finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng, proposed an economic plan including deficit-funded tax cuts for the wealthiest UK bracket as means of stimulating growth. Her program was quickly condemned by the British public, media, parliamentary opposition, and some members within her own Conservative Party. Kwarteng was fired, and most of the tax cuts were walked back by Truss and Kwarteng's successor, Jeremy Hunt.

• Days after Truss’ plan was announced, the British pound fell to an all-time low against the dollar, and yields on sovereign bonds jumped due to a sell-off.
• This critically endangered many of the UK’s pension funds – which were exposed to the bond market – prompting the Bank of England to buy billions of pounds worth of bonds to stabilize the market.

👀 Looking ahead… Conservative lawmakers and voters will choose a new party leader as early as Friday of next week. That person will also become the next UK prime minister by default, with new nationwide elections not expected until 2024.