Chaos At Downing Street: Liz Truss Resigns With The Shortest Tenure of Any UK Prime Minister

Liz Truss, who succeeded Boris Johnson as the U.K.'s prime minister, resigned just a little over a month after joining office.

Her stepping down brings an end to a controversial reign amid fallout over her ambitious tax cut policy.

Liz Truss has been in office for just 45 days - the shortest tenure of any U.K. prime minister. The second shortest-serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days before dying in 1827.

Truss had ripped up the mini-budget leading the financial markets in turmoil and replaced Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor with Conservative leader Jeremy Hunt. 

The cost of government borrowing rose, and the pound fell further following her press conference announcing the changes.

In a statement outside Downing Street, Ms. Truss said: "I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability."

"Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills." Ms. Truss added that she was elected "with a mandate to change this," saying: "We delivered on energy bills."

Truss acknowledged she "cannot deliver the mandate" on which she was elected and that there will be a leadership election "to be completed within the next week."