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Liz Truss has quit after the shortest, most chaotic tenure of any British prime minister, forced out after her economic program shattered the country's reputation for financial stability and left many people poorer.

The Conservative Party, which holds a big majority in parliament and need not call a nationwide election for another two years, will now elect a new leader by October 28 - Britain's fifth prime minister in six years.

That contest is likely to pit ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak against Penny Mordaunt, but could also see the return of Boris Johnson, who was ousted as prime minister in July when his ministers resigned en masse to force him out of office.

The sight of yet another unpopular prime minister making a resignation speech in Downing Street - and the start of a new leadership race - underscores just how volatile British politics has become since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 office, Truss accepted that she had lost the faith of her party and would step down next week. The pound rallied as she spoke.

"I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party," said Truss, who was supported only by her husband, with her aides and loyal ministers noticeably absent.

Allied leaders said they would continue to work with her successor and emphasised the importance of stability.

Truss was elected in September to lead the Conservative Party by its members, not the broader electorate, and with support from only around a third of the party's lawmakers.

She had promised tax cuts funded by borrowing, deregulation and a sharp shift to the right on cultural and social issues.

But within weeks she was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic programme after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and sent British borrowing costs and mortgage rates soaring.

Approval ratings for her and the party collapsed.

On Wednesday, she lost the second of the government's four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster.

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of savings to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation.

With the economy heading into recession and inflation running at a 40-year high, millions of Britons are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Hunt, who has ruled himself out of the leadership race, is due to deliver a new budget on October 31 that is likely to cut spending on public services that are already showing clear signs of strain.

One senior Conservative MP said Sunak and Mordaunt were willing to keep Hunt as their finance minister.

Organisers said that any candidate would need the backing of 100 lawmakers, and that if only one candidate passes that threshold by Monday they will automatically become prime minister. If two candidates remain, party members will get an online vote.

A poll of party members earlier this week showed most wanted Johnson to return, but betting odds put Sunak as the favourite, ahead of Mordaunt, defence minister Ben Wallace and Johnson.

Truss will enter the history books as the prime minister with the shortest tenure, replacing George Canning, who had held the role for 119 days when he died in 1827.

The main opposition Labour Party - and many voters - have called for a general election.

© RAW 2022

A Manhattan jury began deliberating on Thursday in the sex abuse trial of actor Kevin Spacey, who was accused in a civil lawsuit of making an unwanted sexual advance on a 14-year-old in 1986.

Anthony Rapp, now 50, claimed the abuse took place in Spacey's New York apartment when the actor was 26. Spacey denied the allegation on the stand and said he had never been alone with Rapp.

Rapp's lawyer, Richard Steigman, urged jurors to discredit Spacey's recollection of the events.

"It's inconsistent. It's not worthy of your belief," Steigman said during closing arguments.

Spacey's lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said during her closing arguments that Rapp fabricated his story because he wanted attention, among other possible motivations for lying.

"Mr Rapp is getting more attention in this trial than he has in his entire acting life," Keller said.

The trial in Manhattan federal court began on October 6, just under five years after Spacey's career was upended by sexual misconduct allegations in the early days of the #MeToo movement. He has denied any misconduct.

Keller urged jurors to ignore the sexual politics of the case.

"This isn't a team sport where you're either on the MeToo side or the other side," Keller said.

Rapp sued Spacey for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in November 2020.

During the trial, Judge Lewis A Kaplan dismissed the emotional distress claim but allowed the rest of the lawsuit to proceed.

Spacey won Oscars for performances in American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, but his career largely ended after more than 20 men accused him of sexual misconduct.

Spacey faces a criminal trial in London next year after pleading not guilty to five sex offence charges over alleged assaults between 2005 and 2013.

© RAW 2022

Flooding continues across inland NSW, as western Sydney residents are warned of rising waters in the flood-prone Hawkesbury-Nepean.

Minor flooding is expected to begin there on Friday, and residents of several suburbs including Windsor, Penrith, and North Richmond have been told to monitor the conditions.

The Hawkesbury-Nepean region has already suffered two major floods this year.

The threat is being exacerbated by more rain on Friday, with intense falls likely in areas hit by thunderstorms.

Storms are expected to move towards the coast on Friday, and are set to continue for days.

"Another low pressure system is set to form over southern NSW and that will drive further showers and storms into mid-next week," Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said.

"Thunderstorms have been quite hit and miss, but some locations have seen more than 100mm (rainfall)."

The bureau has forecast damaging winds, heavy rain and hailstones with possible flash flooding.

Renewed flooding is possible on NSW inland rivers beginning on Friday, the bureau warned.

"Catchments are very wet and most dams are at or near capacity," the bureau said.

Major flooding was already occurring at several locations on Thursday night.

Moama, on the NSW side of the Murray River opposite the Victorian town of Echuca, has been the focus of the flood threat in recent days.

The river passed major flood levels late on Wednesday night and continues to slowly rise towards the 94.77m height of a 1993 flood, the area's second-worst on record.

The bureau expects it to reach around 95m next week, still below the 96.2m heights of its worst flood in 1870.

Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate Moama and surrounds this week.

Major flooding has started on the Darling River at Tilpa in northwest NSW.

In the central west, the Lachlan River is in major flood at Euabalong and Jemalong. Major flooding is also possible at Condobolin and Hillston.

Moderate flooding continues at Forbes.

At Warren, where the Macquarie River has been at major levels for weeks, renewed rises are likely.

The river stopped its slow fall on Thursday and remains above major flood levels.

© AAP 2022