The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Nottingham chapter.

The question on everyone’s mind right now: What on earth is going on in the House of Commons?

Whether you are interested in politics or not, it is hard to deny that what is going on in British politics at the moment is nothing short of a disaster; all the resignations, reshuffles and reassignments are making everything pretty hard to follow. Well, I’m here to give you a *very* summarised breakdown of the recent goings on in Parliament, so you can wrap your head around the complete mess that is currently unfolding.

On October 20^th, 2022, former Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned from office after a mere 50 days in the job, making her the shortest serving prime minister in British history. This came after a series of political blunders, severely low popularity ratings in opinion polls, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and a growing sense of uncertainty and dissatisfaction amongst the general public. Most notably, on September 23^rd, Truss’ chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced a new economic strategy in the mini budget, which would essentially slash taxes for the country’s highest earners, generating £45 billion in unfunded cuts. This then made the British pound fall harder than you do down the stairs on a night out in Ink, undermining Britain’s economic credibility across the world. Coupled with the already existing cost of living crisis, this set the tone for the rest of Truss’ short-lived premiership: disastrous.

After sacking several of her ministers, a chaotic vote on fracking, and dissent within her own party, Liz was finally outrun by a lettuce. In a resignation speech almost as short as her time as prime minister, Truss placed blame on the economic and international instability of the current climate for not being able to deliver the mandate upon which she was elected.

On October 25^th, King Charles III (astonishingly the second monarch to preside over Truss’ time in office) accepted her resignation and appointed Rishi Sunak as her successor, after an extremely short leadership election within the Conservative Party, in which for a few days the return of Boris Johnson was on the cards.

Rishi Sunak’s appointment to the role of prime minister is monumental for many reasons; he is the youngest prime minister since 1812, and the first Asian prime minister in British history. However, Sunak is also the richest prime minister ever, and has previously come under fire for his vast amount of wealth: it is estimated that he and his wife have a combined fortune of £730 million, making them richer than the King himself. A leaked video of Sunak giving a speech in the affluent Kent town of Tonbridge Wells, in which he states, “We inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that”, left a sour taste in the mouths of many. At a time where increasing numbers of people across the country are struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table, the prospect of potential further cuts and economic hardship may make it difficult for many to trust or support a man who seems so far removed from the average resident in the UK.

At the current moment it is unclear as to where the direction of Rishi Sunak’s government will be headed. All that can be said is that he and his newly elected cabinet have a mammoth task on their hands given the state that Britain has been left in. We can only hope that he lasts slightly longer than Liz Truss did, although that shouldn’t be too hard.

What On Earth Is Going On In The House Of Commons?

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