Liz Truss 'will resign this afternoon or be gone within the next two weeks', says Andrew Marr
14 October 2022, 14:07 | Updated: 14 October 2022, 15:13
Liz Truss will step down as Prime Minister this afternoon or in the next two weeks, Andrew Marr has said.
Speaking to LBC's Shelagh Fogarty on Friday afternoon, Andrew said: "I think if she doesn’t go today they’ll get her out next week or the week after."
Ms Truss sacked chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday afternoon in the run up to an announcement where she will reportedly reverse on a flagship corporate tax cut policy.
The economic and market turmoil caused by the government's recent mini-Budget caused the pound to crash, meaning the Bank of England had to step in to raise interest rates - causing headaches for mortgage holders and a ripple effect in the wider economy.
Andrew said: "We meet across this fine studio table on rare occasions. We last talked on the death of the Queen - we're now talking on the occasion of the death of the government."
He added: "The choice is to go today with dignity in her own words, on her own terms - or be pulled out in a much more humiliating fashion later."
Jeremy Hunt was announced as Mr Kwarteng's replacement on Friday afternoon.
Andrew continued: "Jeremy Hunt is very much on the opposite wing of the Conservative Party to her.
"He would not share any of her core economic views about growth and unfunded tax cuts or anything like that - so it is the most radical message she could send to the markets about ‘I’ve changed my mind, I’ve got it wrong’ - u-turning on the whole thing. He is the anti-Kwasi chancellor."
Andrew said there were three options ahead for the Conservative party: either Ms Truss carries on as she was, which would lead to paralysis, or the Tories force an "emergency Cabinet" onto her, changing direction radically, or they call a general election, which he said was unlikely because Labour would probably win convincingly.
He said: "I think she’s toast, but if she’s not toast, what she’s doing is she is listening to the plotters who are moving against her at the moment. Their idea was to assemble a shadow cabinet, a shadow Tory cabinet, reaching out to all parts of the Tory party, and then go in and tell her it’s over and replace her with an emergency Conservative cabinet..."
"If you get rid of your mini Budget, that means you've got rid of your growth strategy..."
"I would say at this point she hasn't got a purpose in government at all."