The Associated Press reports:
Embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss sacked her Treasury chief and reversed course on sweeping tax cuts Friday as she tried to hang on to her job after weeks of turmoil on financial markets.
At a hastily arranged news conference, she said she was acting to “reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline.” Truss also fired Kwasi Kwarteng as Treasury chief, replacing him with the former Cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt.
Truss is trying to restore order after three weeks of turmoil sparked by the government’s tax-cutting “mini budget.” The Sept. 23 statement sent the pound plunging to record lows against the dollar and led the Bank of England to step in to prevent a wider economic crisis.
Read the full article. As noted in a previous thread, today’s press conference was quite humiliating.
“What credibility do you have to continue governing?” — Liz Truss is asked repeatedly why she’s remaining as prime minister, at a press conference where she announced a corporation tax U-turn and just hours after firing Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor https://t.co/eJAe5EorEo pic.twitter.com/y8Bss2BWIr
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) October 14, 2022
Unbelievable, the Daily Star have a live feed, seeing whether Truss will outlive a lettuce. pic.twitter.com/AfcOIEcJy9
— Jaimie (@JaimieAlexKay) October 14, 2022
Liz Truss went missing for days after her mini- budget and she just ran off stage as quickly as possible after her Press Conference. We really cannot have a Prime Minister who’s palpably scared, confused and out of touch. We need a General Election now.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 14, 2022
That Liz Truss press conference was a car crash.
The silences. The awkwardness. The robotic answers.
Will do nothing to convince Tory MPs she should stay on as PM.
— Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) October 14, 2022
As Liz Truss leaves her press conference prematurely a lobby journalist shouts:
“Aren’t you gonna say sorry!?” pic.twitter.com/oS9wGAyjGN
— Cllr Martin Abrams? (@Martin_Abrams) October 14, 2022