Britain: UK PM Liz Truss has announced her resignation from the post triggering a fresh Tory leadership contest which will be concluded “within the next week”.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, she said: “I recognise though that given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. “I have therefore spoken to His Majesty The King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party”.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was hanging on to power by a thread on Thursday, after a senior minister quit her government with a barrage of criticism and a vote in the House of Commons descended into chaos and acrimony.

A botched economic plan unveiled by the government last month triggered financial turmoil and a political crisis that has seen the replacement of Truss’ Treasury chief, multiple policy U-turns and a breakdown of discipline in the governing Conservative Party.

Many Conservatives demanded the resignation by Ms Truss who served as the Prime Minister for just 44 days.