LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday — bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.
She said “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected.”
Keep scrolling for photos from Truss' short stint as prime minister
Just a day earlier Truss had vowed to stay in power, saying she was “a fighter and not a quitter.” But Truss couldn't hold on any longer 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 just days after she was forced to abandon many of her economic policies.
Her departure leaves a divided Conservative Party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions.
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A growing number of lawmakers had called for Truss to resign after weeks of turmoil sparked by her economic plan. The 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.
Earlier, Conservative lawmaker Simon Hoare said the government was in disarray.
“Nobody has a route plan. It’s all sort of hand-to-hand fighting on a day-to-day basis,” he told the BBC on Thursday. He said Truss had “about 12 hours” to turn the situation around.
Truss had held a hastily arranged meeting in her 10 Downing Street office with Graham Brady, a senior Conservative lawmaker who oversees leadership challenges. Brady was tasked with assessing whether the prime minister still has the support of Tory members of Parliament — and it seemed she did not. Read the full story here:
Photos from Liz Truss' short stint as British prime minister
FILE - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Jane Barlow/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss meets supporters as she arrives to attend a Conservative leadership election hustings at the NEC, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 before becoming Britain's new Prime Minister in Sept. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
FILE - Newspapers with pictures of new Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss are seen outside a newsagent in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Jon Super, FIle)
FILE - Liz Truss addresses Conservative Party members during a Conservative leadership election hustings at Wembley Arena in London, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022 before becoming Britain's new Prime Minister in Sept. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - British Prime Minister Liz Truss leaves 10 Downing Street to attend her first Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
FILE - Britain's King Charles III during his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss at Buckingham Palace, London, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Yui Mok/Pool photo via AP, FIle)
FILE - Liz Truss, right, waves, and Rishi Sunak stands next to her on stage after a Conservative leadership election hustings at Wembley Arena in London, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022 before becoming Britain's new Prime Minister in Sept. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - New British Prime Minister Liz Truss makes an address outside Downing Street in London Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 after returning from Balmoral in Scotland where she was formally appointed by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss waits for the arrival of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, at the Royal Air Force Northolt, London, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)
FILE - British Prime Minister Liz Truss, center left, holds her first cabinet meeting inside 10 Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022 the day after being installed as Prime Minister. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool, File)
FILE - British Prime Minister Liz Truss takes her seat for the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in central London, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP, FIle)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss makes a speech at the Conservative Party conference at the ICC in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss addresses the media in Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Truss says she resigns as leader of UK Conservative Party. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
FILE - From left, British Prime Minister Liz Truss, Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a group photo during a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct 6, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss holds a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London, Friday Oct. 14, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Daniel Leal/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - British Prime Minister Liz Truss, right, holds a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during her visit to the US to attend the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, Tuesday Sept. 20, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden meets with British Prime Minister Liz Truss during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, at the U.N. headquarters. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss waves along with her husband Hugh O'Leary after making a speech at the Conservative Party conference at the ICC in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE -Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss, centre right, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, react during a visit to a construction site for a medical innovation campus, on day three of the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss smiles before making a speech at the Conservative Party conference at the ICC in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - British Prime Minister Liz Truss address the 77th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Wednesday Sept. 21, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE British Prime Minister Liz Truss arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Oct 6, 2022. On Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 Truss quit after losing support of Conservative lawmakers following weeks of turmoil over botched economic plan. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)
Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.
