Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister after just 44 days in the post – here’s how the news was received around the world.
Russia: Liz Truss will be remembered for her ‘catastrophic illiteracy’
Russia’s foreign ministry welcomed the resignation of Liz Truss – saying she was a “disgrace” of a leader who will be remembered for her “catastrophic illiteracy”.
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“Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The claim of illiteracy appears to refer to Ms Truss’s visit to Moscow shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine while she was foreign minister.
In a meeting with Russia’s veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, she appeared to confuse two regions of Russia with Ukraine, triggering mockery by the Russian diplomat and across talk shows on Russian state TV.
Senior Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev tweeted: “Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce,” referring to the UK Daily Star’s joke about whether a lettuce would last longer than Ms Truss’s prime ministership.
France: We wish for stability for the UK
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “I won’t comment on this issue which relates to British politics, but what I want to say is that we always had very constructive meetings and exchanges over the phone, no later than a few days ago in Prague.
“I also want to say that France, as a friend of the British people, wishes for stability and in this context of war and tensions over the energy crisis, it is important that Great Britain sets out again on the path of political stability and that’s all I wish for.
“On a personal level, I am always sad to see a colleague leave and I hope that stability will come back.”
US: We’ll continue to have a close relationship
US President Joe Biden said: “The United States and the United Kingdom are strong allies and enduring friends – and that fact will never change.
“I thank prime minister Liz Truss for her partnership on a range of issues including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.
“We will continue our close co-operation with the UK government as we work together to meet the global challenges our nations face.”
Ireland: New PM should be appointed as ‘quickly as possible’
Britain must appoint a new prime minister to succeed Liz Truss as “quickly as possible” to ensure political and economic stability, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said.
“I think stability is very important and we would like to see the UK system within its capacity to have a successor selected as quickly as possible and that stability would be brought to the situation given the fairly significant geopolitical issues facing Europe, not least the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis,” he said.
Read more:
Who could replace Liz Truss?
The divided Tories won’t find it easy choosing a new PM
Australia: ‘Voters want a say in what happens next’
Rebecca Armitage wrote for the Australian Broadcasting Corp: “Voters are the ones who have endured a devastating pandemic, Putin’s cold and costly winter, and now a looming recession.
“After their government descended into chaos, in-fighting and betrayal, they want a say in what happens next.”
In The Sydney Morning Herald, columnist Waleed Aly wrote that Ms Truss’s downfall held lessons for Australia’s Liberal Party.
He said: “In a certain sense, this Tory nightmare really began with a loss: specifically David Cameron’s lost gamble that he could put Brexit to bed. But Australia’s Coalition found civil war in victory, especially on issues like climate change.
“Which explains probably the key similarity we’re now seeing.
“There’s a certain Tory who feels the extremists are now in charge of their party, and who hopes that this crash landing might be the chance to remove them and restore a traditional Tory balance.
“There, as here, victor’s remorse must inevitably become reduced to a loser’s hope.”
United Arab Emirates: The market won the argument
The National’s columnist and assistant editor-in-chief Mustafa Alrawi wrote: “People are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis and governments must respond – which will mean spending more or taxing less.
“The UK wanted to do both to stimulate growth and the market was highly sceptical it would work.
“The market won the argument.”
Netherlands: ‘I’m annoyed for her personally’
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: “I had a good contact with her… so I’m annoyed for her personally.
“We agreed on a whole range of views and I’m looking forward to work with who will be my next colleague.
“It will be the fifth one, I believe.”
Ms Truss with Dutch PM Mark Rutte
Canada: Government by lettuce leads only to the compost heap
Tom Rachman, columnist at Canada’s Globe And Mail, blamed Britain’s political “disgrace” on “the culmination of six woeful years sparked by the vote for Brexit, which hastened the decline of a major power while thrusting dunces and charlatans into command”.
“Sadly, Britain cannot simply vote this mess off the island.
“Besides the ongoing costs of Brexit, this latest loss of credibility means billions more frittered on higher borrowing costs.”
He says public service cuts, inflation and soaring energy prices make for a “frightening” winter, adding: “One economic boost is obvious, yet few dare speak its name: re-joining the EU”.
“Britain must summon courage now, and view itself honestly. Government by lettuce, it turns out, leads only to the compost heap.
“A humbling was due. A humbling is here.”
India: Failed promises and dashed hopes
India Today’s Nandini Singh wrote that the British prime minister’s short tenure was “marred by failed promises and dashed hopes”.
She notes the possibility that Boris Johnson could make a return to power “as he still has a core of supporters who feel a departure forced by a string of scandals inside Downing Street was unfair, and that number has surely grown as Tory MPs and members grasp for anything that could rescue the party from electoral oblivion”.
Germany: The beginning of something of a British turning point?
Annette Dittert, London correspondent for the German public broadcaster ARD, was another who picked out Brexit.
She blamed Brexit for the “current insanity”, saying: “Firstly, because Brexit has damaged the UK economy so lastingly that any extra market uncertainty leads to far greater turbulence than ever before.
“Secondly, because Brexit and the inherent magical thinking of a sovereign UK that can go its own way in the globalised 21st-century world, detached from international developments, marked the beginning of the end of rational thinking on the island.”
Truss’s “dramatic failure”, Dittert concluded, “could now spell the end of that wishful thinking – the beginning of something of a British turning point”.
Speaking to Tagesschau, she said: “This is a government that is clearly no longer capable of acting and these chaotic scenes here last night have made it clear to everyone that Liz Truss is simply no longer in control of the situation and her party.”
She also quoted the former prime minister’s deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker who reportedly said on Wednesday night that he was “f****** furious” about the situation within his party.
Spain: A new chapter to the history of financial crises
In Spain’s El Pais, Angel Ubide wrote that the “pro-Brexit coalition” had “captured the British political establishment in 2016, and has slowly eroded its credibility until, as almost always happens, credibility suddenly ran out and the markets said enough is enough”.
“Bankruptcies, financial or political, always follow the same path: gradualism followed by collapse. Britain has managed to add a new chapter to the history of financial crises.”