Liz Truss has announced she will be leaving Downing Street just six weeks into the job.
So how did the leader go from securing her place at the top of the Conservative Party to leaving the most powerful post in the country after just 44 full days in office?
After a lengthy contest over the summer, Ms Truss beat Rishi Sunak to win the Conservative leadership and to become the UK’s next prime minister.
She promised to “deliver a bold plan” to cut taxes and grow the economy, and told the membership: “I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.”
Tuesday 6 September
Ms Truss travelled to Balmoral to meet the Queen and to officially be asked to form a government.
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After returning to Downing Street through the wind and rain, she gave a speech promising the country could “ride out the storm” of the cost of living crisis.
Image: Just days before the Queen’s death, she asked Liz Truss to form a government.
After less than 24 hours in the top job, Truss held her first cabinet meeting before facing her inaugural Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons.
She promised to take “immediate action” on energy bills, but refused Labour’s call for a further windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies, telling MPs: “We cannot tax our way to growth.”
Thursday 8 September
The PM returned to the Commons to outline her energy plan, promising to set a cap on household prices for two years and to offer support to businesses for six months.
But the key policy moment was soon overshadowed by the news breaking that the Queen was gravely ill.
The country moved into a period of national mourning, and the new prime minister played a key part as the UK said farewell to its monarch.
After leading tributes in the Commons, she attended the accession to the throne of King Charles, and followed him to cathedral services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Image: Lis Truss holds her first audience with King Charles
After her first official audience with the King, rumours circulated that she had advised him not to attend the COP27 climate change summit – something he is known to have strong views about – but this was dismissed by Downing Street.
And on the day of the funeral, Ms Truss gave a reading at the service.
She gave her speech to the gathered delegates, and had her first official one-on-one with US President Joe Biden.
Image: Liz Truss holds a bilateral with US President Joe Biden at the UN building in New York.
In front of the cameras, he made sure to make one point clear to her following her plan to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the post-Brexit trade deal to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
“We are both committed to protecting the Good Friday Agreement of Northern Ireland and I’m looking forward to hearing what’s on your mind,” said Mr Biden.
Friday 23 September
Back in London and it was a big day for Ms Truss’s chancellor as he took to the despatch box in the Commons to deliver his so-called mini-budget, or “the growth plan”.
Some of Mr Kwarteng’s policies had been expected as the PM had made clear during her leadership campaign that she would reverse the rise in National Insurance to pay for health and social care, and lower taxes.
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Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announces tax cuts for 31 million people.
But the scale of tax cuts was immense, and particular ire was targeted at the decision to scrap the 45p tax rate for the highest earners in the country, that all the measures would be funded through borrowing, and that there was no fiscal analysis from the Office of Budget Responsibility.
And the markets were spooked, with yields on gilts immediately spiking higher due to the prospect of a big surge in government borrowing.
Monday 26 September
The bad reaction to the growth plan played into the hands of Labour over the weekend as the party gathered in Liverpool for its annual conference.
And things got worse after Mr Kwarteng took to the airwaves, promising there were more tax cuts to follow.
The pound plunged as the markets made their view on the new leadership in Downing Street clear, and the Bank of England said it would “not hesitate to change interest rates as necessary”.
Tuesday 27 September
The fall-out from the mini-budget continued to grow and the pound continued to plunge.
The Treasury promised an update would be given on 23 November on how the government would ensure borrowing would not spiral out of control.
However, in an extraordinary statement on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it was “closely monitoring” developments in the UK and urged Mr Kwarteng to “re-evaluate the tax measures”.
Wednesday 28 September
The markets were still in turmoil.
The chancellor organised a meeting with bankers to try to reassure them about his plans and underline his commitment to fiscal discipline, having held calls with concerned MPs the night before.
Image: Kwasi Kwarteng faces the pressure at conference
But things went from bad to worse when the Bank of England was forced to intervene, launching a temporary bond-buying programme to prevent “material risk” to UK financial stability.
As calls increased for a U-turn and even Mr Kwarteng’s resignation, the government ruled it out, with one minister telling Sky News it was “bulls***t” to say the market chaos was due to the mini-budget.
Thursday 29 September
The chaos was not just in Westminster or the markets, it was getting through to voters as well.
After a united Labour conference and a well-received speech from party leader Sir Keir Starmer, the party surged ahead in the polls, totting up a massive 33-point lead in a YouGov poll, with many more positive surveys following over the coming days.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer’s own conference speech is well received. Pic: AP
Translated to a general election, Sir Keir would get a vote share of 54% compared to just 21% for the Tories.
But the PM came out to defend her and Mr Kwarteng’s fiscal plans again, insisting the mini-budget was necessary to help people and businesses facing soaring living costs.
Sunday 2 October
The party faithful gathered in Birmingham for the Conservative Party conference, but many MPs stayed away amid the ongoing rows around the economic plan.
Ms Truss appeared on the BBC and made her first hint of an apology for the chaos, admitting she “should have laid the ground better” for the tax cutting mini-budget, saying she had “learnt from that” and would “make sure in future we will do a better job”.
But the rebellion was already swelling, specifically around the scrapping of the 45p tax rate, with former frontbenchers Michael Gove and Grant Shapps seeming to lead the charge.
The PM doubled down on the policy, appearing to throw her chancellor under the bus by saying it was a decision taken by Mr Kwarteng. But a spokesman later said the pair were “in lockstep” on the measure.
Monday 3rd October
The rebellion grows as MPs gossiped in the fringe events around the conference centre in Birmingham.
Mr Gove said he would vote against the 45p tax rate if it comes to the Commons, while chair of the Treasury Committee – and close Sunak ally – Mel Stride demanded OBR forecasts are brought forward.
Then came the U-turn. Mr Kwarteng confirmed the 45p plan had been scrapped just hours before he took to the stage for his conference speech, saying it had become a “distraction” and adding: “We get it, we have listened.”
Despite the blow to his authority, the chancellor insisted he has “not at all” considered resigning.
The PM echoed his comments, and insisted her focus is now “building a high growth economy”.
Tuesday 4 October
More questions were raised about the relationship between the PM and her chancellor after Ms Truss repeatedly refused to say whether she trusted Mr Kwarteng following the 45p tax rate U-turn.
But she told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that she had “absolutely no shame” about the change of direction.
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Cabinet cohesion appeared to fall by the wayside as Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt told reporters the rise should happen, while Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused MPs of staging a “coup” against the prime minister.
Wednesday 5 October
On the final day of conference, Ms Truss got up to give her keynote speech and vowed to “get Britain through the tempest”, insisting “everyone will benefit” from the result of her economic policies.
She told the audience she and her chancellor “will keep closely co-ordinating our monetary and fiscal policy” after the government’s tax-cutting mini-budget which caused such market turmoil.
And she coined the phrase “the anti-growth coalition” as she attacked Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, protesters and unions.
Thursday 6 October
Conference over, and Ms Truss took to the international stage again, flying to Prague to meet with European leaders about their response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
She had bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The summit also came after Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney revealed the UK and EU would be holding talks during the week to resolve issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the Brexit deal aimed at preventing a harder border on the island of Ireland.
But rows within her party over the mini-budget and future plans for benefits continued to roll on at home, and would need to be faced when she got back.
Friday 7 October
Worrying warnings were issued by the National Grid that the UK households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure that the grid does not collapse in the “unlikely” event gas supplies fall short of demand during the winter.
But on the same day, there was friction between Ms Truss and her Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg over a campaign to advise the public to watch their energy usage.
Image: There were tensions over Jacob Rees-Mogg’s plans.
Mr Rees-Mogg was believed to have backed a £15m campaign for over the winter to give out public information on energy saving.
But the Times reported he was overruled by the PM as she was “ideologically opposed” to such an approach as it could be too interventionist.
Monday 10 October
As markets continued to voice concerns over the mini-budget and MPs increasingly demanded an earlier update on how the chancellor plans to pay for all the measures, Mr Kwarteng confirmed he would bring forward the date of his medium-term fiscal update from the end of November to Halloween.
A spokesperson said he wanted to set out his commitment to debt falling over the medium term “as soon as possible” and the new date was “the right time to do that”.
And the government committed to it being accompanied by that all-important OBR forecast.
Tuesday 11 October
After a turbulent conference season recess, MPs returned to Westminster, with Labour promising to step up pressure on the government to U-turn on its entire mini-budget.
The chancellor opened business with Treasury Questions, and MPs saw through Ms Truss’ reversal of the National Insurance hike from earlier this year.
But there was still debate within the Tory Party about the direction of the PM, with one MP suggesting she would need to reintroduce a rise in corporation tax to pay for her policies.
Image: The PM and chancellor say they are ‘in lockstep’ over their plans.
It caused uproar within her party and the climate change lobby, all amid her ongoing pledge to bring fracking to the UK.
Wednesday 12 October
Ahead of her second PMQs since winning the keys to Number 10, the government announced it would cap the revenues of renewable energy firms to stop them benefitting from record profits.
It was welcomed by Labour, who said it was the windfall tax they had been calling for – but they wanted more action on oil and gas companies.
But it raised even more questions about how the government would pay for its plans, especially after the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor would need to find £60bn of cuts to cover them.
As Tories continued to voice their concerns and unrest grew, Ms Truss embarked on a so-called “charm offensive” to try to win back the critics within her own party, touring the tea rooms and appealing to members of the 1922.
Thursday 13 October
Mr Kwarteng got on a plane and headed to Washington DC to meet leaders of the IMF – a difficult meeting considering the organisation’s previous critcisim of his fiscal plans.
Downing Street insisted the prime minister and the chancellor “remained committed” to the growth plan.
But late on Thursday, after a hasty briefing with journalists, the chancellor cut his trip short and got on a plane to head home amid rumours of further U-turns.
Straight from the airport, Mr Kwarteng headed to Number 10. And after just 38 days in the job, Ms Truss fired one of her closest friends and allies in an attempt to win back the confidence, not only of her party, but of the markets and the public.
In a letter to the PM, he said her “vision is the right one” but he “accepted” her position.
Image: Jeremy Hunt is appointed as Liz Truss’s new chancellor.
He came from a very different wing of the party, and again showed Ms Truss reaching out to try and reunite MPs behind her.
In a tense press conference later that afternoon, she confirmed the latest U-turn from her government – reintroducing the rise in corporation tax to 25% – saying: “The way we deliver our mission has to changed.”
But she added the “mission remains” to deliver a “low-tax, high-wage, high-growth economy”.
Saturday 15 October
The new chancellor hit the airwaves to hammer home the message it was all change in the Treasury.
Mr Hunt said there had been “mistakes” in the mini-budget from his predecessor and his boss, and that it had been an error to “fly blind” by not having an OBR forecast alongside it.
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‘You’re out of your depth, prime minister?’
He revealed the government “won’t have the speed of tax cuts we were hoping for and some taxes will go up”.
And asked if this would mean a return to austerity, he replied: “I don’t think we’re talking about austerity in the way we had it in 2010. But we’re going to have to take tough decisions on both spending and tax.”
Mr Hunt also released a statement on Saturday night saying his focus was on “growth underpinned by stability”.
Monday 17 October
By Monday, the U-turns were in full swing. Mr Hunt made a statement from the Treasury saying he was reversing “almost all” of the tax cuts announced in Mr Kwarteng’s mini-budget and was scaling back support for energy bills.
He said the 1p cut to income tax would be delayed “indefinitely” and the government’s energy price guarantee would only be universal until April – not for two years as originally planned.
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2:10
Income tax cut to be delayed ‘indefinitely’
Meanwhile, Labour secured an urgent question in the Commons about what had happened with the ousting of the former chancellor in the days before.
Rather than answering the question, the PM sent Penny Mordaunt to the despatch box, where she said Ms Truss wasn’t “hiding under a desk” but was busy with work.
Yet in the closing minutes of the event, the prime minister came into the chamber in preparation for Mr Hunt’s statement on the long list of reversals of policy.
While many MPs welcomed the new chancellor and the change of direction, other were furious, and the attempts to settle the mood of the party did not seem to be working. Without her policies, it was unclear what the PM had to offer.
Tuesday 18 October
Ms Truss’s premiership was hanging by a thread. Questions over what further decisions Mr Hunt would make to balance the books led to rumours of abandoning the pensions triple lock, cutting benefits, and even reducing the defence budget.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said he remained supportive of Ms Truss, unlike many of his colleagues, but there was no more room for error after the previous day of U-turns.
During a full cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the chancellor told ministers every department would need to find savings, a Treasury source said, with many cabinet ministers wondering how.
Ms Truss continued to hold meetings with MPs from various factions of the party, but there was a sense in the air that things were not going her way.
Wednesday 19 October
It was just Ms Truss’s third appearance at PMQs, but a lot of pressure was mounting on her to give the performance of her life.
She told the Commons she was a “fighter” not a “quitter”, and many in her party seemed calmed by her performance.
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Things went from bad to worse later in the evening over a vote on fracking in the Commons that Tory MPs had been told was equivalent to a “confidence vote” in the PM.
Confusion reigned. Reports of bullying tactics and man-handling came from the voting lobbies, the chief whip resigned, then was back in post, it was unclear if the three-line whip was in place and the party was furious, with MPs starting to publicly call for Ms Truss to resign.
Thursday 20 October
After the chaos of the Commons the night before, the number of MPs calling for Ms Truss to go began to pick up momentum.
The chair of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, was seen going in the backdoor of Downing Street, and a Number 10 spokesman confirmed the pair were meeting at the PM’s request.
Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey was seen entering next, followed by Conservative Party Chairman Jake Berry.
Shortly after 1.30pm, after just 44 days in power, Ms Truss came out onto the street and announced she was resigning, with a new PM to be chosen within one week.
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Image: Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
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In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Follow The World
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
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Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.