The British Prime Minister resigns after 44 days. 

Good grief! 

What on earth is happening to the UK?

The previous shortest serving PM was Sir Alec Douglas-Home who lasted for 366 days in the early 1960s.

This is how the Guardian’s Simon Jenkins describes the chaos.

In her short resignation speech Truss says she has spoken to the King to notify him of her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party. She goes on to say that a leadership election will be:

“completed in the next week”.

A tiny sub-set of the UK population gave Britain Liz Truss

142,000 Party members voted in the leadership election that gave Liz Truss the keys to 10 Downing Street.

The Conservative Party in the country is older, whiter, wealthier that the nation as a whole. The membership is concentrated in London and South of England.

In the absence of a General Election (which doesn’t have to be held until January 2025) Britain’s next PM will be decided by Conservative Members of Parliament and a minuscule, unrepresentative Conservative Party in the country.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, led in every round of voting by Conservative MPs.

In the last round of voting among MPs, Rishi Sunak received 137 votes and Liz Truss 113 votes. The two names then went on to the ballot for the wider Party’s decision.

If Rishi Sunak decides to run he will be Britain’s next Prime Minister.

Gordon Prentice 20 October 2022 9.50am

Update from the Guardian at 10.26 pm eastern. Note: Party members are to be given a say - not just Conservative MPs.

• Nominations for the next PM opened tonight and will close at 2pm on Monday. Candidates will need a minimum of 100 nominations to proceed to the ballot. There will be an indicative vote of MPs once there are two candidates.

• The first ballot of MPs will then be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday. If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be eliminated.

• The result will be announced at 6pm on Monday. If a second vote is needed (indicative), this will be held between 6.30-8.30pm on Monday. The result will be announced at 9pm.

• If there are two candidates, the Tory membership will get to vote again and a winner will be picked by Friday.

• Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party has a manifesto “ready to go” if there is an early election. He told the BBC if the Tories were to replace Liz Truss with Boris Johnson, that would make the case for an early election even stronger. The Liberal Democrats say the Conservative party should block Boris Johnson from standing again.

• A senior MP in Rishi Sunak’s previous leadership campaign said they expect him to stand again, according to the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot.

• Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman are also expected to stand as leadership candidates.

• Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, have been ruled out of the leadership race.