Liz Truss joins ranks of shortest-serving world leaders | Liz Truss

Coup, assassination, abdication, suicide and illness – all have contributed to history’s shortest-lived leaderships, though none, in the literal sense at least, to that of Liz Truss.

But after just 45 days in office, Truss has the ignominy of being the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister by some distance.

She becomes an indelible footnote in British history, and it will be little comfort to her that, compared with some others, her tenure looks positively lengthy.

British prime ministers

The Tory statesman George Canning had, until Thursday, the distinction of holding the UK record, serving 119 days in office before dying of tuberculosis on 8 August 1827. The holder of many senior government posts in his time, including that of foreign secretary, he is remembered for his part in such an extreme example of cabinet infighting that Truss’s woes pale in comparison. When he was foreign secretary, such was the antipathy between him and the war secretary, Lord Castlereagh, that the government became paralysed by their disputes. It ended in a duel on Putney Heath when Canning, who had never fired a pistol, was wounded in the thigh. Though both resigned amid outrage that two cabinet ministers had conducted themselves in such a manner, Canning subsequently became prime minister. He died after barely five months in office.

Alec Douglas-Home just missed out on a first anniversary in office, lasting 363 days before being replaced by Harold Wilson.

Chancellors

Joseph Goebbels can technically claim this record. He was, in effect, the German chancellor for just one night after Adolf Hitler killed himself on 30 April 1945. But the day after he replaced Hitler, Goebbels and his wife, Magda, poisoned their six children, then killed themselves.

Presidents

William Henry Harrison was the ninth president of the United States, inaugurated in 1841 to become, at 68, the oldest to have held office at that point. Less than an hour into his 32nd day, he also became the first to die in office, serving the shortest tenure in US presidential history. He took the oath on 4 March, a cold, wet day during which he rode on horseback and delivered possibly the longest inaugural address in American history, taking about two hours. Some reports claim his refusal to wear a coat or hat that day contributed to the pneumonia that killed him on 4 April, though other reports attribute his death to typhoid fever.

Historians estimate Pedro Lascuráin enjoyed one of the shortest presidencies of all time, with the former mayor of Mexico City being installed as the country’s leader after a military coup in February 1913. His installation was simply a mechanism to legitimise the coup, led by Gen Victoriano Huerta, and serve as a transition to Huerta taking office himself. Lascuráin’s time as president is estimated to have lasted a mere 45 minutes.

Emperors

“Michael II” lasted less than a day as emperor of Russia after the abdication of his brother Tsar Nicholas II on 15 March 1917. His position was disputed and he made his accession conditional on the decision of the new provisional government in Russia. Around 18 hours after the abdication, Michael signed a manifesto acknowledging the provisional government, thus marking the end of the tsarist regime in Russia. He was never confirmed as emperor, and, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, was imprisoned and murdered.