Liz Truss and Rihanna. CREDIT: Getty

Newsnight used Rihanna‘s 2008 ballad ‘Take A Bow’ to soundtrack a brutal opening montage of Prime Minister Liz Truss after she resigned yesterday (October 20) – watch the clip below.

Delivering a statement outside Number 10 Downing Street, Truss announced that she would be stepping down as PM after just six weeks in office. She’s in turn become the shortest serving UK Prime Minister in history.

Last night’s episode of BBC Two current affairs programme Newsnight began with a one-minute-45-second video summing up Truss’ turbulent and brief premiership. It started with black-and-white footage of the PM’s speech at the Tory Party conference this month.

Throughout the clip, the shots and Truss’ remarks are lined up with Rihanna’s ‘Take A Bow’ lyrics. Viewers see the PM speaking at the lectern at Number 10 (“You look so dumb right now/ Standin’ outside my house“) and later apologising in an interview “for the mistakes that have been made” (“Don’t tell me you’re sorry ’cause you’re not“).

The montage then shows a series of negative newspaper front pages before Conservative MP Charles Walker tears into “talentless people” at the top of government. “I think it’s a shambles and a disgrace,” he says.

As Rihanna sings that “it’s over now“, a final shot sees Truss head back into Number 10 following her resignation speech. “Go on and take a bow…” Check out the video in the tweet above.

Elsewhere, Channel 4 News used Blank Space by Taylor Swift – Truss’ “favourite song” – as the soundtrack to a similarly cutting montage.

Some viewers on Twitter responded by joking about Truss’ known love of Swift, whom she was pictured with at the BAFTA awards ceremony in 2019.
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Truss, who won the Conservative Party leadership contest on September 5, explained that she was leaving office as she “recognised that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party”.

A leadership election will be completed within the next week, it’s been confirmed. Truss will remain as PM until a successor has been chosen.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for an immediate general election.

Figures from the worlds of music and entertainment have been sharing their reaction to the news of Truss’ resignation.