Political Economy of UK 21st Century Prime Ministers’ Resignation

Since Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation, various reactions have followed and continue to follow her actions in the UK and around the world. Many political scientists and public affairs experts have offered conflicting opinions. Our check indicates that the country’s prime ministers of the twenty-first century have a history of quitting. It all started with Prime Minister David Cameron calling a referendum on quitting the European Union. Cameron resigned following the referendum, and Theresa May took over as Prime Minister. Boris Johnson followed in the footsteps of Theresa May. Liz Truss took over as Prime Minister in place of Boris Johnson. Truss is the fourth prime minister to resign since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Exhibit 1: Average all items index in 12 years

According to multiple sources, the resignation is motivated by national and global economic worries. The resignation has also been linked to global political uncertainty. For a better understanding of the economic aspects of the resignation, our analyst examines the inability to address growing uncertainties in the national economy cited by the resigned prime ministers (particularly Truss) using the country’s inflation rate over the last 12 years and the UK public interest in key economic concerns. Our analyst notes that when comparing the average consumer purchasing price index of all food items with the existing qualitative data, the four prime ministers’ resignations had largely occurred when the inflation rate became uncontrollable. According to our analyst, this could be traced to the ineffectiveness of policy agendas proposed before elections and multiplier effects of economic challenges in other countries, especially the country’s trading partners.

According to our analysis, the resignation’s political component may have more to do with the Brexit vote. It is obvious that the choice is having a strategic impact on the nation’s economy from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss. The country is also suffering significantly from the imbalance in the various geopolitical interests.

Exhibit 2: Public interest versus real all items CPI index between 2010 and 2021

Further analysis of the UK public’s interest in the economy and inflation, as well as the real consumer price index for all food products between 2010 and 2021 in the context of the Prime Ministers’ varied policies, shows a strong resonation of interest in inflation in 2018 and 2019. Compared to prior years, the interest in the economy and the index during these years was more in line with the interest in inflation. Analysis, however, reveals that the UK public’s interest in understanding the economic situation increased between 2013 and 2018 as evidenced by patterns in the real inflation rate (see Exhibit 2).