Tory councillors in Liz Truss’ Norfolk seat have shared their sadness at their local MP’s decision to resign as prime minister.
The South West Norfolk MP resigned after just 44 days in office, becoming the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister in history.
District and county councillor Fabian Eagle said he was “gutted” by the news.
“She had so much she wanted to do and unfortunately [she was a victim of] the scenario of external forces, what’s happening in the world, and her backbenchers were against her."
He added that the global economic picture had left her in an impossible situation.
“Every currency had collapsed against the dollar, including the Norwegian krone today," he said. "Well, what are you supposed to do?”
Councillor William Nunn, former leader of Breckland Council, said: “I wasn’t surprised by what happened, looking at what had been happening over the past few weeks.
“I’ve been saddened by the behaviour of our parliamentary colleagues.
“I think it’s really unfortunate for the Conservative local government family, because I think it will impact badly on them, come the next election in May."
He added that he had “absolutely no idea” who should take over from Ms Truss, saying: “It’s a poisoned chalice now, isn’t it?”
“I would love the membership to have a say but I don’t think it’s fair on the country for the membership to have a say.
“I think something needs to be sorted as quickly as possible to try and bring some form of stability to what’s left.”
District councillor Robert Kybird said he too was disappointed by the brevity of Ms Truss' premiership, saying that she is a good constituency MP and had performed particularly well in the role of foreign secretary.
Asked whether the party should re-appoint Boris Johnson to the top job, he said: “I think it would get some popular support but whether it would get enough from the MPs, I don’t know.
“In terms of comments I’ve heard from the public, I’ve heard more ‘bring back Boris’ than anything else really."
He said that the leadership selection process could not be as long as it was in the summer but added that the question of whether the decision should be left solely to MPs was “Hobson’s choice”.
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