Any serious student of politics would not have been surprised by the brevity of Ms Liz Truss’S tenure as head of the British Government.

The writing was on the wall from the minute she took office as she sidelined Government legislators who did not support her campaign for leadership, regardless of their ability, thus deepening division within the Conservative Party.

Additionally, she embarked on her budget of tax cuts funded by debt, despite being warned that it would send the British economy into further decline.

As we all already know, the policy sent shock waves through financial markets, crashing the British pound and resulting in her firing finance minister Mr Kwasi Kwarteng. That she was unable to justify her staying in office after sacking Mr Kwarteng, who was merely implementing her economic plan, eroded her legitimacy and support for her started to wane among Government Members of Parliament (MP).

So, 45 days into her premiership — less time than her campaign for leadership — Ms Truss accepted the inevitable and stepped down.

Her successor, Mr Rishi Sunak, who took office yesterday after gaining the support of the majority of Conservative Party MPs, will, like Ms Truss, have no honeymoon in the job.

At age 42, Mr Sunak, Britain’s youngest prime minister since 1812, inherits an economy that was headed for recession even before the turmoil triggered by Ms Truss. Inflation now exceeds 10 per cent, the highest in any G7 country due to rising energy tariffs and food prices. On Monday Agence France Presse reported that just released data showed Britain’s economic downturn has worsened in October, with private sector output at a 21-month low.

Mr Sunak has retained Mr Jeremy Hunt as chancellor of the exchequer, a decision considered by financial analysts as wise because it has assured financial markets of some semblance of stability.

But even as Mr Sunak moves to steer Britain away from economic uncertainty, he is also faced with growing public discontent fuelled by inflation which manifested in train drivers and other workers going on strike this year.

Reports are also emerging that, for the first time in its 106-year history, the Royal College of Nursing is recommending industrial action by its members.

Additionally, Mr Sunak now has the task of uniting his party as he seeks to govern outside the shadow of Mr Boris Johnson who, despite leaving the prime minister’s chair in disgrace in September, still has hard core supporters in the party and has signalled that he is biding his time for a return.

We are told that on Monday, after being announced as the choice of the majority of Conservative Party MPs Mr Sunak told them that they must “unite or die” as support for the Opposition Labour Party soars in public opinion polls more than two years before the next general election is due.

How the Sunak Administration manages the economy and the myriad other problems facing the country — among them the thorny issue of post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland; the health service; immigration, which continues to be a real sore point; and, to a lesser extent foreign policy, in particular how Britain treats with Russia’s war in Ukraine, and China, which Mr Sunak has labelled the “number-one threat” to domestic and global security — will, of course, determine his political future.

Mr Sunak has more problems than Carter has little liver pills. We wish him well.