Ex-foreign Secretary Liz Truss thought she was onto a sure thing when she won the Conservative leadership race in the wake of Boris Johnson being ousted.
But just 44 days later, she was back to packing the boxes she'd only just unpacked when she was forced to resign as Prime Minister.
Ms Truss earned herself the title of the shortest-serving PM in British history - probably not the greatest accolade she had hoped for when she took office in September.
Never one to hide her ambition of leading the party, she had held increasingly important positions during key times - including her role as one of the UK's major figures in the support of Ukraine.
She'd taken a firm stance on the conflict, insisting the solution to ending the war lies in driving Russian troops from the country.
The former Minister for Women and Equalities also played with an equally hard ball during her involvement in navigating the Northern Ireland protocol, which gained her some plaudits in certain parts of the party.
But, like so many senior politicians, she has also had some bizarre and very public moments that drew attention to some of the more human elements of the former Prime Minister.
Read on for a look inside the career of the minister once dubbed the "new Iron Lady".
How old is Liz Truss?
At the time of writing, Liz Truss is 47 years old. Before entering Downing Street she held the role of Foreign Secretary, which meant it was her job to deal with British affairs in world politics.
One of the most notable aspects of her time in the job was dealing with the Russia and Ukraine crisis.
Who is Liz Truss?
A graduate of Merton College, Oxford, Liz Truss was elected as Conservative MP for South West Norfolk in 2010.
Born in 1975, she was named State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on September 15 2021. Before that, she had held the position of Minister for Women and Equalities since September 10 2019.
Before her career in politics, she had been a deputy director at the think tank Reform.
Truss married accountant Hugh O'Leary in 2000 with the pair still together at the time of writing.
Liz Truss' affair
Truss came under fire from party activists in her future Norfolk constituency in 2006 over an affair with a married MP.
The fling with then-Tory MP Mark Field is thought to have lasted around 18 months and almost derailed the then-25-year-old's climb to becoming the nominee for the seat.
Speaking at the time, then-Tory leader David Cameron said: "She is an excellent candidate and I very much hope she will be the candidate."
Liz Truss' infamous cheese video
In an impassioned speech at the 2014 Conservative Party Conference, Truss gave a talk about food exports in the UK.
The bizarrely delivered speech became a viral hit after she said, amongst other things: "We import two-thirds of our cheese. That. Is. A. Disgrace."
Liz Truss' career in politics
Truss quickly rose up the ranks of the Conservative party. Just two years into her parliamentary career she was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education, a role she held for two years until 2014.
Not long after, she became Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which she again held for two more years until 2016.
From here she did a year as the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain before spring-boarding to the role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
During the leadership of Boris Johnson, her success continued to grow. In 2019 she was made Secretary of State for International Trade and the President of the Board of Trade, which she held until September 2021. She was also made the Minister for Women and Equalities.
In 2015 she undertook the role of Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
In summer 2022, with concerns about the stability of Boris Johnson's leadership following the lockdown party scandal, her name cropped up increasingly frequently as a future leader of the party.
During the Tory leadership challenge Ms Truss quickly overtook Rishi Sunak as the favourite, and she stormed to victory on September 6.
Within 48 hours of the top job she was left reeling by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and had to deliver the reading at the monarch's funeral - during which she was mistaken for a minor royal by international broadcasters.
Days later, after a truly disastrous mini Budget delivered by Ms Truss' good friend and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, the beleaguered Prime Minister was forced to U-turn on some of the economic decisions that tanked the pound and sent the markets into meltdown.
A chaotic vote over fracking on October 19 - during which her Chief Whip and deputy were reported to have quit, and Tory MPs were 'manhandled' into voting - was enough to sink Ms Truss, and less than 24 hours later, on October 20, she delivered the news she was standing down after the shortest tenure as prime minister in the UK's history.
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