Liz Truss resigned as Britain’s prime minister on Thursday. She went down in a spectacular blaze of glory. It all started with Queen Elizabeth II passing away shortly after meeting Truss for the hand-kissing formation-of-government moment in Balmoral, then Truss managed to survive the official mourning period as she plotted her hard-right deranged tax cuts for the rich, she oversaw the British pound massively weakened, she watched as the Bank of England had to step in with emergency measures to ensure that the economy didn’t completely collapse, and then she did nothing as Tory-on-Tory crime occurred on Wednesday in Parliament. Forty-four days of chaos, bad policy, violence, death, economic collapse, and she gets a generous allowance for the rest of her life even after she couldn’t outlast a head of lettuce.
Liz Truss is eligible for a taxpayer-funded allowance capped at 115,000 pounds ($129,000) a year for the rest of her life.
Despite her short time in office, Ms. Truss became eligible on Thursday for what’s called the Public Duty Costs Allowance — a government reimbursement plan for staff and salary costs incurred by former prime ministers “arising from their special position in public life” after they leave office, according to the government’s website.
This has drawn scorn, however, from some of Ms. Truss’s political opponents, who have called for her to be refused the payment because of what they see as her role in Britain’s political and economic turmoil.
“There is no way that she should be permitted to access the same £115,000 a year for life fund as her recent predecessors — all of whom served for well over two years,” said Christine Jardine, the spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office of the Liberal Democrats, in a statement.
“Truss’s legacy is an economic disaster — for which the Conservatives are making taxpayers foot the bill,” Ms. Jardine said, adding that the potential payout would leave “a bitter taste in the mouth of the millions of people struggling with spiraling bills and eye-watering mortgage rate rises thanks to the Conservatives’ economic mismanagement.”
[From The NY Times]
I mean… we have similar issues here in America. Former presidents get a pension and Secret Service protection after they’ve left office, and it pisses me off that Donald Trump is getting money and protection even after he literally tried to murder public officials by inciting an insurrection. In Truss’s case, it does feel like there should be some kind of mechanism to introduce a “threshold” measure, as in “if you haven’t served as prime minister for a certain amount of time, you don’t get this kind of pension.” Apparently, John Major and Tony Blair have both received this “allowance” following their prime ministerial reigns. Which makes sense, given they both served for seven/eight years. No one knows if Boris Johnson will take the money. But it looks like BoJo has his eyes on a different prize: a return to 10 Downing.
Liz Truss has resigned as Britain’s prime minister and will step down after a week-long emergency contest to find her successor, she announced outside Downing Street, leaving the possibility of a return of Boris Johnson. Her resignation follows a turbulent 45 days in office, during which Truss’s mini-budget crashed the markets, making her the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister.
The prospect of Johnson returning to Downing Street is dominating debate amid fevered speculation the former premier is plotting a comeback.
Only six weeks after he left No 10, forced out by his own Conservative party MPs after a slew of scandals, supporters are calling on Johnson to run again for a second shot at leading the country. But as many supporters of Johnson call for his return, his critics have also made their feelings known, with some threatening to defect to Labour if he is chosen as leader again.
Who else is running? Several Tories have come out in support of Rishi Sunak as the successor to Truss. Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Penny Mordaunt are also expected to stand as leadership candidates.
Could Johnson really return? “I wouldn’t want to make any cast-iron prediction in this crazy world of politics at the moment but I think Boris Johnson returning is a very real possibility,” said the founder of the ConservativeHome website, Tim Montgomerie.
[From The Guardian]
I wish Britain was real. I mean, come on – you guys FINALLY managed to toss out Boris Johnson over all of his lies and liquor-soaked parties and not even two menstrual cycles later, he’s on the comeback trail? My God. What a waste of time, money and effort.
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) October 20, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Source: Read Full Article
