UK's Tories vow new leader next week as PM Truss quits

Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation just 44 crisis-filled days after taking office, as the ruling Conservatives planned a rapid contest to replace the shortest-lived premier in UK history.

The new leader will be elected on October 28, party managers said, setting a high bar of 100 nominations for candidates to amass from their fellow MPs. That might block any comeback by former premier Boris Johnson.

The race will be effectively limited to three candidates at the start, before the 357 Tory MPs vote on their preferred candidate.

Party members will then get an online vote, in an accelerated timetable that avoids the drawn-out contest in which Truss defeated Rishi Sunak over the summer following Johnson's own resignation.

Truss admitted she "cannot deliver the mandate" on which she was elected by the members, after her right-wing platform of tax cuts disintegrated and as many Conservative MPs revolted.

Labour leader Keir Starmer, whose opposition party has surged in opinion polls on the back of Truss's short, eventful tenure, demanded a general election "now".

"This is not just a soap opera at the top of the Tory party," he said, warning of "huge damage" to the UK economy, although the pound surged against the dollar after Truss's dramatic announcement.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Truss said she would stay on as prime minister until a successor was chosen to serve as Tory leader.