How long Liz Truss can last as prime minister dominated the UK front pages on Saturday, after the sacking of her chancellor and a pledge to “see through” what she had promised failed to assuage either the markets or her own MPs. The Guardian calls it “a day of chaos”, as Kwasi Kwarteng lasts just 38 days in office and Truss is forced into a “humiliating” U-turn on a planned cut in corporation tax. It notes Truss’s press conference consisted of “eight minutes, four questions and no apology”.
The Mirror has clearly heard enough, saying “Time’s up” in its headline. It reports on growing calls for a general election, and Keir Starmer’s desire for a change of government.
The Telegraph says “Truss clings to power after axing Kwarteng” and reports on “an extraordinary day of reversals in Westminster that left Tory MPs despairing and sped up plotting among some rebels trying to remove Ms Truss”. It says Truss warned during her leadership contest that the looming rise in corporation tax, which will now happen, would trigger a recession.
The Times says simply “Truss fights for survival” and reports that Kwarteng believes the moves by the prime minister have bought her “only a few weeks”.
The FT weekend edition focuses on the sacrificing of Kwarteng, with the headline: “Truss sacks Kwarteng in bid to save premiership”. Political commentator Robert Shrimsley asks pointedly “what is the point of Liz Truss now” given the policy U-turns, adding that her MPs no longer trust her.
The Mail laments the Tory chaos and asks in its headline “how much more can she (and the rest of us) take?”. It reports that the latest moves by Truss “tore the heart out of her plans for boosting growth” and that some ministers are discussing the possibility of installing a new leader by consensus.
The i says: “Tory MPs tells Truss: ‘It’s over’”, based on the comments of a senior minister. It says Jeremy Hunt is the fourth chancellor in 101 days, and that there is talk of him as a replacement PM if Truss goes.
The Express evokes Thatcher with its headline: “Vultures circling, but Truss is not for quitting”. It says the prime minister installed centrist Jeremy Hunt at No 11 “in a desperate bid to regain credibility in the financial markets”.
The New York Times says western countries face a common problem in soaring inflation and the prospect of slowing growth, but only Truss had managed to unnerve the markets, anger other leaders and jeopardise her own position. Patricia Cohen writes that Kwarteng was fired for a package of cuts that was “precisely the package … that she had asked for”. “In the United States, President Biden, while waging his own political battles over gas prices and inflation, has not proposed anything like the kind of policies that Ms Truss’s government attempted, nor have any other leaders in Europe.” The Washington Post says Truss “is still in office, but no longer in power”, because losing Kwarteng means she has “effectively had to abandon her whole governing project”. Therese Raphael writes that her only hope lies in showing she understands her errors and has a plan to fix them. Raphael says Truss’s weakness means Hunt will be a powerful figure at No 11.