Liz Truss

On Friday morning, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, was summoned a day early back to London from the US straight to Downing Street, where he was relieved of his duties. Kwarteng being gone, however, does not mean that Truss is out of the woods, CNN reported.

The current incumbent of 10 Downing Street Liz Truss, who has been in post for only 39 days, appears to be increasingly in danger of being ousted by her Conservative party MPs, unless there's a dramatic turnaround in her fortunes over the next few days.

The former Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt will be the fourth Chancellor this year, the Guardian reported. Kwarteng has confirmed he was asked "to stand aside" as Chancellor. In a letter to Prime Minister Liz Truss, Kwarteng wrote: "You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted."

On Thursday, leaders from the European Union (EU), the UK, Turkey, Norway and the Balkans met at the first European Political Community in Prague, during which they discussed energy, migration and security, with a particular focus on the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke via video link, reports the BBC.

The firm Fitch announced that Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's "unfunded fiscal package" could lead to "significant increase in fiscal deficits over the medium term", Daily Mail reported. It followed a similar move by rival Standard & Poor's (S&P's) a few days ago, however Fitch maintained its 'AA-' credit rating for the UK, which is one level lower than S&P's, citing the government's "weakened political capital".

Cabinet discipline also appeared to have broken down on Tuesday, as two ministers, Robert Buckland and Penny Mordaunt, suggested they did not back the idea of cutting benefits - an idea floated by those close to No 10, The Guardian reported. Truss and Kwarteng embarked on a round of media interviews intended to convey a message that they were getting a grip after the damaging u-turn.

Three-quarters of UK voters, including a staggering 71 per cent of those who backed the Conservatives at the last general election, believe the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, have "lost control" of the economy, according to a devastating poll for the Observer on the eve of the Tory conference, local media reported.

Making her debut on the world stage on Wednesday at the high-level meeting of the General Assembly, she said: "The free world needs this economic strength and resilience to push back against authoritarian aggression and win this new era of strategic competition."

Kwasi Kwarteng has been made the Chancellor, James Cleverly became Foreign Secretary and Suella Braverman replaced Priti Patel as Home Secretary, reports the BBC. One of Liz Truss's closest friends, Therese Coffey, has been appointed as Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. Her new cabinet will meet ahead of her first Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

"I am confident that together we can ride out the storm. We can rebuild our economy," Truss said in her first address to the nation as Prime Minister, outside 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency. The UK is facing a worsening cost of living crisis, as food and energy prices continue to soar. Inflation has kept rising since the winter of 2021.