History, the Bad Kind

A noteworthy day in the history of a land with, arguably, THE most significant history in our planet’s existence (what with that whole British Empire period and such). Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Truss announced her intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom this morning (1:30 p.m. in London) in a hastily called presser outside of 10 Downing Street…only 45 days after succeeding Boris Johnson. The previous shortest tenure of a British PM was the 119 day term of George Canning…in 1827. He had the audacity to die in office. Canning’s successor, Frederick John Robinson, aka, 1st Viscount Goderich, lasted a mere 25 days longer to claim 3rd place. The Viscount could not maintain Canning’s fragile coalition government.
As for Truss, her “mini-budget” plan to address a two pronged financial crisis: sharp, sudden increases in prices in the cost of living basics like groceries, gas. clothing, etc., and an energy crisis caused by ongoing natural gas prices spikes, which began in August, 2021. Truss’s plan to limit energy prices and combine increased gigantic borrowing with a tax cut package, shall we say, laid a turd. It was so bad that two of her new cabinet level ministers quit while world financial markets reacted, uh, very negatively. Perhaps she should have called President Josiah Edward “Jed” Bartlet for assistance, since he had a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and was a Nobel Laureate in Economics. Oops. Fictional character. Damn. 45 days. The next UK elections should be interesting.

 

Who was the PM during your time there Don. I’m gonna guess Harold Wilson.