She said she could not deliver the mandate she was elected and had notified the King that she was resigning as Tory leader.

There will be a Conservative leadership election to be completed within the next week, she says.

It comes after she met the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs as more Tories called for her to quit.

Truss's premiership came under renewed pressure after the home secretary resigned and a chaotic vote on fracking.

There was fury on Wednesday evening around the vote and the methods used to get MPs to vote with the government