Liz Truss left 10 Downing Street with a defiant message that “brighter days lie ahead” as her premiership ended on Tuesday after just seven weeks.
Ms Truss gave a farewell speech in Downing Street before leaving for Buckingham Palace to formally offer her resignation to King Charles III.
She left with a warning that her drive for economic growth could not be postponed forever, even after a vast package of tax cuts blew up her premiership.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth,” she said.
“Our country continues to battle through a storm, but I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people, and I know that brighter days lie ahead.”
Ms Truss leaves after 49 days as the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, breaking the record of George Canning who died after 119 days in 1827.
But she counted a freeze in energy bills and a cut in national insurance — one of the few surviving tax cuts from her aborted package — as achievements of her short tenure.
She said she was honoured to have overseen the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, two days after appointing Ms Truss as her final prime minister.
After eight years in the Cabinet, she said she would return to the backbenches when her successor Rishi Sunak takes office.
Ms Truss was flanked by her husband Hugh O'Leary and her teenage daughters, Frances and Liberty, in her final appearance as prime minister.
Like Boris Johnson before her, she turned to ancient Rome for inspiration in her final speech, quoting the philosopher Seneca: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
“From my time as prime minister, I am more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face,” she said.
“I wish Rishi Sunak every success, for the good of our country.”
Before offering the king her resignation, Ms Truss chaired her Cabinet for a final time - with some ministers likely to be moved when Mr Sunak takes over.
She told ministers that "in the short time the government had been in place they had secured some significant achievements," Downing Street said.
Liz Truss resigns as prime minister — in pictures
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Liz Truss announces her resignation as UK Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street in London. 'The National' looks at her brief time in power. PA -
Chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady speaks to the media in London following Liz Truss's announcement of her resignation. Reuters -
Liz Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary walk back inside 10 Downing Street following her resignation statement. AFP -
Liz Truss during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, addressing Parliament for the first time since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies. AFP -
Liz Truss speaks to Grant Shapps at Downing Street as he is appointed Home Secretary, after the resignation of Suella Braverman. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street -
A mural by artist Ciaran Gallagher in Belfast is updated to reflect Liz Truss's current political troubles. PA -
Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announcing tax and spending measures at the House of Commons in London, with Liz Truss sitting on the bench behind him. AFP -
Liz Truss gives a speech after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer. Reuters -
A protest by climate change group Extinction Rebellion in central London. Ms Truss has said the group is part of an 'anti-growth coalition' with trade unions and the main opposition Labour Party. AFP -
Ms Truss has come under increasing pressure during her short time as prime minister. AFP -
An Extinction Rebellion protest outside Downing Street on the day Mr Kwarteng was removed from the government. AP -
Ms Truss with members of the England women's football team and the European Championship trophy in Teddington, south-west London. Getty -
Ms Truss arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. AP -
Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary wave after her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. AP -
Liz Truss gives a speech at the Conservative Party Conference. EPA -
Ms Truss meets with Mr Kwarteng, chancellor of the exchequer at the time. Photo: Andrew Parsons / CCHQ -
Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham. AFP -
Ms Truss meets US President Joe Biden for talks at the UN headquarters in New York. PA -
Ms Truss delivers a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. AP -
The British prime minister holds a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. Reuters -
Ms Truss meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN headquarters in New York. Reuters -
Ms Truss speaks to the media during her visit to the Empire State building in New York. AP -
Britain's new leader speaks during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, London. PA -
Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary observe a minute's silence at Number 10 Downing Street following the death of the queen. Reuters -
Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Truss leave after a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. AFP -
Ms Truss joins the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and selected MPs to take the oath and swear allegiance to King Charles III in the House of Commons chamber. PA -
King Charles during his first audience with Ms Truss at Buckingham Palace, London, following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images -
Ms Truss gives a reading during a service of prayer and reflection, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Getty Images -
The British prime minister makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street in London following the queen's death. Bloomberg -
Ms Truss speaking during her first weekly Prime Minister's Questions session at the House of Commons in London. AFP -
Front pages of a selection of British national newspapers, each leading with a story about Ms Truss becoming Britain's new prime minister. AFP -
People walk past an image in central London of Ms Truss on the side of a protest bus calling for a citizens' assembly. Reuters -
Ms Truss holds her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. Reuters -
Ms Truss speaks at Downing Street on the day she took over as prime minister from Boris Johnson. EPA -
Ms Truss poses with her husband Hugh O'Leary at Downing Street before entering as prime minister for the first time. EPA -
Ms Truss is welcomed by staff in Downing Street as she enters the famous prime ministerial offices for the first time. Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street -
New Health Secretary Therese Coffey and Number 10 staff shelter from a downpour as they wait for Ms Truss to arrive in Downing Street. PA -
Liz Truss makes a speech outside 10 Downing Street, London, after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister and form a new government. PA -
Queen Elizabeth II greets the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Ms Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The queen invited Ms Truss to become prime minister and form a new government. Getty Images
