October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election significant person Liz Truss
The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, amid an economic and political crisis.In the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Truss was elected to succeed Boris Johnson, who had resigned in an earlier government crisis following a string of controversies that characterised Johnson's premiership and severely damaged his personal reputation. Truss was appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II two days before the monarch's death; her government's business was subsequently suspended during a national mourning period of 10 days. To tackle the cost of living and energy supply crises, Truss's government announced the Energy Price Guarantee to limit energy prices for households, businesses and public-sector organisations. Her government then announced large-scale borrowing and tax cuts in a mini-budget, which was widely criticised and largely reversed, having led to financial instability. Facing mounting criticism and loss of confidence in her leadership, Truss announced that she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party, and also announced that she would remain as prime minister until a successor was elected.Truss premiership
Eleven candidates put themselves forward for the July leadership election, with eight receiving sufficient nominations from Conservative MPs: Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, and Nadhim Zahawi. After five rounds of voting over nine days, MPs selected Sunak and Truss to be put forward as candidates for party members to vote on. On 5 September, after a seven-week campaign period, Truss was announced as the new leader of the party after receiving 57.4% of the members' vote and was duly appointed as Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II on 6 September 2022 during an audience held at Balmoral Castle. Later that day, Truss announced the composition of the new Cabinet with Kwasi Kwarteng appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
On 23 September, Kwarteng delivered a Ministerial Statement entitled "The Growth Plan" to the House of Commons. Widely referred to in the media as the mini-budget, it proposed tax cuts and increased spending, and was followed by a sharp fall in the value of the pound against the United States dollar. Amidst widespread criticism, Truss and Kwarteng defended the budget for more than a week before beginning to announce reversals of the most controversial measures: the abolition of the 45% income tax rate for the highest earners, and cancellation of a planned freeze in corporation tax. Truss sacked Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt on 14 October.On 19 October, Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary citing a breach of the Ministerial Code and "concerns about the direction of this government". Later that evening, there were allegations of bullying, physical intimidation, and voting pressure over a Labour-introduced motion in the House of Commons on the issue of fracking, and confusion about whether Conservative MPs were to treat this vote as a matter of confidence in the government.On 20 October, Truss announced her resignation as leader of the party and prime minister, after meeting with Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee.