The prime minister would have to last until January 3 so as not to be the leader who has been in Downing Street for the least time
MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, is still in the eye of the hurricane despite having corrected part of her fiscal program and having changed the head of Finance. Although she is theoretically shielded from a motion of internal censure, there are already several fellow ‘Tories’ who have publicly asked her to resign.
Truss took office on September 5, in what was expected as a point and apart from the crisis of British conservatism, after a few convulsive last months under the baton of the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The new leader arrived at Downing Street with a slogan of “fiscal discipline” that has turned against her in a matter of a few weeks.
A ‘mini budget’ with several fiscal measures unleashed such political and financial controversy that the Government has had to correct it twice, to eliminate the reduction in income tax on the highest income bracket, first, and to recover the increase of corporation tax, later.
Truss also dismissed Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday, a “great friend” — as she herself said at a press conference — whom she has set aside to make way for Jeremy Hunt, a ‘tory’ seasoned in Government and that he had already tried several times to move up to Downing Street.
It is up to Hunt now to take the reins of economic policy and there are already those who see him as a “‘de facto’ prime minister”, as MP Kay Burley has pointed out. In this sense, he has stated on Sky News that the power in Downing Street is no longer at number ten on the street, seat of the Executive Headquarters, but at number eleven, in the Ministry of Finance.
MPs Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis have openly called on Truss to resign, arguing that “the game is over” and that “very basic and avoidable mistakes” have been made in recent weeks, according to the messages spread by legislators in recent days.
Last week, sources quoted by ‘The Times’ even spoke of internal movements to replace Truss as soon as possible with a duo of leaders made up of Rishi Sunak, the second most voted candidate in the last Conservative Party primaries, and Penny Mordaunt.
Mordaunt herself has published an article in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ to urge calm and to focus on the government’s “mission”, given the complicated moment facing both the country and the continent as a whole. “Our country needs stability, not a soap opera,” she has claimed.
The noise of sabers is such that the British media have already pulled the newspaper library to check to what extent a departure from Truss would make history in the United Kingdom. The prime minister who has been in office for the shortest time was George Canning, in 1827: he governed for only 118 days, although in his case because he died of health problems.
Truss therefore needs to hold out until January 3, 2023 and, for now, has shown no signs of giving in to pressure. On Friday, in a brief appearance before the media to announce the latest political turnaround, she underscored her desire to remain prime minister.
The opposition, led by the Labor Party, is calling for early elections –they are not scheduled until January 2025–. The polls clearly favor Labor and place the ‘Tories’ at minimum levels, so it seems difficult for the Conservative Party to opt for this strategy.
The British parliamentary system establishes ways to change the head of government without going through the polls -as happened in the transfer of command between Johnson and Truss-, including a motion of censure that could be promoted by the ‘tory’ bench itself in the House of Commons.
However, the rules stipulate that no two motions can be held in less than a year. The last one, filed against Johnson, was in early June of this year, so in theory Truss would be protected from the rebellion of her own colleagues until mid-2023.
No one dares to rule out a change in the regulations at this point so that it is not necessary to wait so long. The decision rests with the 1922 Committee and its treasurer, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, explained Sunday on Sky News that it would be made if an “overwhelming majority” of the party supported it.
This group will meet on Wednesday, so the current leader has at least a few days to try to convince locals and strangers that she has the capacity to “overcome the storm”, as she herself has declared in several of her appearances.