Liz Truss received 57% of the vote, or 81,326 votes, to former Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 42%, or 60,399 votes, with 82% of Conservative…
- Liz Truss wins over ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak to be new PM.
- Boris Johnson is to resign on Tuesday formally.
- Liz Truss will be the 56th PM and the third woman to hold the office.
The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom revealed the results of the intra-party contest for party leadership and the job at No. 10 Downing Street, naming British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as the nation’s next Prime Minister and party leader.
Ms. Truss received 57% of the vote, or 81,326 votes, to former Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 42%, or 60,399 votes, with 82% of Conservative members casting a ballot.
Ms. Truss will become Britain’s 56th Prime Minister and the third woman to hold the office following Monday’s declaration. On Tuesday, she will move to Scotland’s Balmoral Castle, where Queen Elizabeth II will welcome her to establish a new government.
Ms. Truss appreciated Conservative Party public officials in her victory speech at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London for the “lengthiest job interview in history” – the contest started in early July following the resignation of many top ministers in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet, including Mr. Sunak.
The incoming Prime Minister expressed gratitude to Mr. Sunak and Mr. Johnson, in whose cabinet she stayed. This element may have contributed to her fame against Mr. Sunak.
“Boris, you completed Brexit, squashed Jeremy Corbyn, a former Labour Party leader, turned out the vaccine, and looked up to Vladimir Putin.” “From Kyiv to Carlisle, you are loved and respected,” she said.
Liz Truss faces the cost of living and energy price crisis
Ms. Truss will take over a growing list of issues on Tuesday. The United Kingdom is dealing with rising inflation, currently above 10%, a rising slowdown, energy bills that could push many Britons into fuel poverty, and an ongoing conflict in Europe between Russia and Ukraine.
“I did campaign as a Conservative, and I will run the country as a Conservative,” Ms. Truss said, promising to cut taxes, boost growth, improve the NHS, and address the energy bill crisis.
She promised over the weekend that within a week of taking No. 10, she would bring a strategy for tackling energy prices immediately and a longer-term energy supply plan.
Whether to reduce the deficit first or concentrate on inflation became central to the discussion between Ms. Truss and Mr. Sunak. Borrowing to fund tax reductions, Mr. Sunak argued, was not the Conservative way.
While he did not speak in the auditorium, he did send out a tweet thanking everybody who voted for him and saying it was time to rally behind the incoming Prime Minister “as she steers the nation through hard times.”
“I’ve always said that the Conservatives are one family,” he wrote. Prime Minister Modi congratulated Ms. Liz Truss soon after the headlines of her victory broke.
“I am sure the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will intensify under your governance.” “Best wishes for your new duties and responsibilities,” he wrote on Twitter.
