How long was Liz Truss Prime Minister? Was she the UK’s shortest-serving PM after being outlasted by lettuce

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has made her first public intervention since resigning from No 10, by saying she was never given a chance to enact her economic policies. T

And it’s true, the South West Norfolk MP had a short and chaotic reign in Downing Street which lasted around six weeks, and involved financial and political turmoil. Truss was forced to sack her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, after a disastrous mini-budget crashed the pound and caused the Bank of England to hike interest rates.

His replacement Jeremy Hunt then u-turned on almost every policy pledged by Truss and Kwarteng, removing any political power from Truss. Not longer after that there was chaos in Parliament, when Chief Whip Wendy Morton and her deputy, Craig Whittaker appeared to resign in fury at the handling of a vote on a Labour motion over fracking, before No 10 said they both remained in post.

In an announcement outside Number 10 Downing Street on 20 Octobe), Truss announced that she was resigning as Prime Minister, with Rishi Sunak replacing her days later. In her first detailed comments about her disastrous reign, Truss has written in the Sunday Telegraph saying she was not “blameless” over the way her Kwarteng’s infamous mini-budget catastrophically unravelled, she still believed her approach to driving growth was the right one.

But how long was Truss Prime Minister and who are the shortest-serving Prime Ministers? Here is all you need to know:

How long was Liz Truss Prime Minister?

Boris Johnson announced that he would be resigning as leader of the Conservative Party on Thursday 7 July. It came after his government was rocked by waves of resignations, sparked by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak stepping down at the same time as then-Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

It sparked a leadership race among the Tories which lasted throughout the summer, before Truss beat the current PM Sunak and won the leadership election. She started as Prime Minister on 6 September, just days before the Queen died.

Truss had been Prime Minister for just 44 days by 20 October when she resigned - just six weeks into the role. She remained in position until Sunak replaced her on 25 October, giving her total reign as 49 days.

Who are the shortest serving Prime Ministers?

Truss has set the second for the shortest serving Prime Minister, beating George Canning from 1827 by several months. Canning held the position for 118 days, dying from tuberculosis on 8 August 1827.

Full list of shortest serving PMs:

• Liz Truss, 49 days (202)
• George Canning, 118 days (1827)
• 1st Viscount Goderich, 143 days (1827-28)
• Andrew Bonar Law, 211 days (1922-23)
• 4th Duke of Devonshire, 225 days (1756-57)
• 2nd Earl of Shelbourne, 265 days (1782-83)
• 3rd Earl of Bute, 317 days (1762-63)
• Alec Douglas-Home, 364 days (1963-64)

Theresa May was Prime Minister for 3 years, 11 days, and Boris Johnson lasted slightly longer with 3 years, 44 days.