British Prime Minister Liz Truss announces her resignation, outside Number 10 Downing Street, London, Britain October 20, 2022.
Henry Nicholls | Reuters
LONDON — Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss is blaming a “powerful economic establishment” for bringing her chaotic 44-day tenure to an end last year.
Truss resigned in October, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, after her radical tax-cutting budget roiled financial markets, sank the pound, took British pension plans to the brink of collapse and led to a revolt within her own Conservative Party.
In a 4,000-word essay published by the Sunday Telegraph, Truss argued that she was never given a “realistic chance” to implement the £45 billion ($54 billion) tax-cutting agenda she and Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng put forward.
In her first public remarks since leaving office, Truss stood by her economic policies, claiming they would have increased growth and brought down public debt over time, and blamed both the country’s economic institutions and her own party for her downfall.
“I am not claiming to be blameless in what happened, but fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support,” she wrote.
She added that she had assumed her “mandate would be respected and accepted” and had “underestimated the extent” of resistance to her economic program.
Truss was elected leader of the Conservative Party in September, defeating her eventual successor Rishi Sunak, after garnering 81,326 votes from party members following the ousting of Boris Johnson. The U.K. population exceeds 67 million.
“Large parts of the media and the wider public sphere had become unfamiliar with key arguments about tax and economic policy and over time sentiment had shifted leftward,” she added.
Current Business Secretary Grant Shapps, formerly Home Secretary under Truss, told the BBC on Sunday that Truss’ approach “clearly…
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