Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned as UK prime minister in a statement outside Downing Street.
She said she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected as Tory leader and had notified the King that she was resigning.
There will be a Conservative leadership election to be completed within the next week, she said.
“I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen,” she said.
Her departure after 45 days in office makes her the shortest-serving PM in UK history.
Truss’s premiership as been in turmoil since her mini-budget last month, which rocked markets and was later scrapped by her new chancellor.
The resignation of her home secretary on Wednesday and a chaotic vote in the Commons sealed her fate.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he will not stand to be the next Conservative leader and UK prime minister, BBC Chief political correspondent Nick Eardley reported.
- BBC