Tag Archives: Liz Truss

05Jul/24

UK election: Tory downfall is democracy rectifying its mistakes

Stephen Barber, University of East London

Democracies are no better than other forms of government at avoiding catastrophic mistakes. But they are much more effective at rectifying them. While the 2024 British general election might have seemed a long time coming, as the country meandered from one failure to the next, the utter scale of defeat for the Conservatives is testament to the ability of a democratic system to reject, reverse and renew.

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25Oct/22

It matters that Rishi Sunak has become the UK’s first prime minister of Indian descent

Parveen Akhtar, Aston University

Following his uncontested run at the top job, Rishi Sunak acquires the less-than-coveted title of second successive un-elected British prime minister to take office in 2022. However, coming from Punjabi heritage, he also takes on the more esteemed title of the nation’s first British Asian leader.

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25Oct/22

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: who is he and how did he end up with the top job in British politics?

Victoria Honeyman, University of Leeds

When Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss in the first Conservative Party leadership race of 2022, few were surprised. Many of the people given the chance to choose between the two candidates blamed Sunak for Boris Johnson’s downfall. They also preferred Truss’s “optimistic” economic policies to Sunak’s sombre assessment of the fiscal outlook. Where she promised generous tax arrangements, he argued that economic circumstances would be hard and taxes could not be cut in the short term. Indeed, he warned, they might even have to rise.

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23Oct/22

Liz Truss resigns as prime minister: the five causes of her downfall explained

Matthew Flinders, University of Sheffield

As Liz Truss stepped away from the lectern outside No.10 Downing Street after resigning as leader of her party, it probably occurred to her that her time as prime minister will have been only as long as the leadership campaign that got her there.

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15Oct/22

Kwasi Kwarteng: only a desperate prime minister sacks a chancellor

Despina Alexiadou, University of Strathclyde

Having seen her government’s popularity plummet just weeks after taking office, British prime minister Liz Truss has sacked her chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng in a bid to save herself. Kwarteng, widely seen as Truss’s right-hand man, was rushed back to London from New York for the occasion, where he had been meeting with IMF officials on Thursday evening.

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09Aug/22

Is race an issue for Rishi Sunak? It’s a difficult question for pollsters to investigate but the information we do have is telling

Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

A YouGov poll of party members completed on August 2 shows Rishi Sunak to be trailing Liz Truss 31% to 69% in the Conservative leadership contest. A similar poll completed on July 21 had him on 38% to her 62%. She appears to be winning the contest hands down.

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25Jul/22

Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss? Polling shows party members want her – but the wider voting public would choose him

Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are the final two candidates chosen to go head-to-head in the battle to become the next leader of the Conservative party and, therefore, the next prime minister of the UK.

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