Yesterday (20 October) Liz Truss resigned as prime minister after just 45 days in office. Despite her short time in charge of the country, Truss made headlines regularly (and for all the wrong reasons) – from that mini budget to the swift U-turn, to failing to appoint a minister for women. 

As the news of her departure broke around the world, reactions came in thick and fast. And, as usual, the great British sense of humour is coming to the rescue in what is a wildly unprecedented and unsettling time.

First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, kicked off the humour with a pithy reply to a journalist who asked: “Is Liz Truss set to leave office without ever having a formal meeting or even a phone call with Nicola Sturgeon?” 

She replied: “If she doesn’t mind, I’ll now just wait for whoever will become the 5th PM (so far) during my time as FM.” 

Twitter continues to be awash with memes and gifs making light of the news. We found some of the best tweets below: 

However, as joyful as it is to watch the British public use humour to stick two fingers up to the news, it’s important to remember that Truss’s resignation is *a big deal*.

At a time when the country is facing what seems like endless uncertainty, the departure of a prime minister isn’t exactly good news – and many MPs and public figures have been taking to Twitter to share their thoughts on the situation.

MP Nadia Whittome said: “Liz Truss is gone. Good riddance. Since 2019 the Tories have given us: 
• A PM who partied while people died, breaking his own laws, and lied about it
• A PM who crashed the economy within weeks by cutting taxed for the rich

“Enough is enough. #GeneralElectionNow.” 

Meanwhile, barrister Jo Maugham added: “How many times must we go through this before, y’know, voters get a say?” 

And Lord Sikka posted: “Liz Truss has resigned but will hang around for another week.

“She is the shortest-serving Prime Minister in Uk history.

“She will get £115,000 annual allowance for the rest of her life.

“We need a general election now, not another Tory party leadership election.”

Image: Getty