The Front Page: Where does the UK go next after Liz Truss' resignation?

Liz Truss has quit as UK Prime Minister afer just 45 days, adding to the country's struggles. Photo / AP

The British Empire was once the largest the world had ever seen, and at the start of the 20th century, nearly a quarter of the world's population had links back to the British Isles.

A century on, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has quit after a premiership that has lasted less than the runs of some reality TV contestants, after weeks of being compared in the media to a lettuce.

Liz Truss announced her resignation as Prime Minister overnight, after weeks of controversy that came to a tipping point this week due to a litany of scandals involving sacked ministers, conflicting u-turns on economic policy and anger from backbench MPs after being forced to vote on party lines.

Speaking to the Front Page podcast, UK correspondent Gavin Grey says that the country's reputation has been "shot to pieces".

"We have had or will have three prime ministers in the space of just a couple of months, it is quite extraordinary. And we will have had five prime ministers in six years - again, almost unheard of."

Truss' rapid-fire premiership and untimely resignation came after global criticism of her economic plan, which caused the Pound to crash when it was announced in late September. US President Joe Biden told reporters that her tax cuts were a "mistake", and criticised a lack of "sound policy" on the economy from other countries.

Grey said that the UK's reputation is "pretty bad" right now, and the future Prime Minister will need to stabilise the economy and keep the party in order to regain that respect.

"May sound simple, but that's a heck of a tall order in this country for the Conservative Party at a moment."

A quick and smooth leadership process is needed - contenders for Prime Minister need the support of 100 MPs in order to be nominated, meaning there can only be a maximum of three.

"I think the leaders will hope that they can agree that one of them becomes leader and one of them becomes deputy and they don't then need to put it to a vote," Grey explained.

"That vote will be with the party membership. In other words, the people that hold that little card saying I'm a member of the club. They were the people that chose Liz Truss, and let's face it, I'm not sure they can be trusted that much."

The party's hierarchy is keen on one candidate that everyone can unite behind, but Grey said that will be difficult as the party is riddled with "fractious infighting".

"I think we're into a period of great instability."

Technically, despite the chaos, the Conservatives can remain in power until 2024 when the next general election is due - but their poll rating has plummeted, with the opposition Labour Party more than 20 points ahead in some polls.

Grey said that the "mountain of decline" facing the Conservatives has prompted all other parties to call for an early election.

"The leaders of all the other parties are saying: 'We need a general election. We need it now. All you are doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, and if your next leader doesn't work, it's gonna be even worse'."

The United Kingdom now has to wait until next week to see if the ruling party of 12 years can pull itself together.

• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.

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