In the race to the leadership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss comfortably defeated competitor Rishi Sunak. And now, she becomes the new Prime Minister of the UK.
Currently serving as the UK foreign secretary, Truss won by 81,326 votes (57.4) from Conservative members versus 60,399 (42.6 per cent) for Sunak. Sunak served as the former chancellor who quit over his differences with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Amidst the economic turmoil in Britain, Truss will officially take oath as the new PM and then choose her new cabinet. For this, she will fly to the queen’s highland estate in Balmoral.
On Monday night, Johnson’s Home Secretary Priti Patel resigned from her job. She took this step as she wasn’t expecting a job in Truss’ new-look team.
As a Tory leader, Truss assured that she will fulfil all the promises and lead the Conservatives to triumph during the next elections. Currently, the party is falling behind the victory mark in the polls.
She added, “I know our beliefs resonate with British people. I campaigned as a Conservative and will govern as a Conservative.”
Truss promised: “We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver.” She used her victory speech to tout a “radical strategy” to slash taxes and address rising energy prices.
Truss received criticism throughout the campaign for her failure to present a comprehensive plan to lower living expenses. But she quickly won over Conservative members with a pledge to cut taxes and an improved debate performance.
She pledged to release an emergency budget, cancel a scheduled increase in business tax, and roll back the national insurance personal tax increase soon after taking office.
The Sunak’s campaign contended that Truss’s economic measures will only boost inflation and dubbed her tax cut plan a “moral failure”. Sunak’s campaign comfortably won the backing of Conservative MPs in the contest’s first round but fell short in the wider ballot of rank-and-file Tory members.
In a speech on Monday, Truss emphasised that Sunak’s campaign was a “hard-fought” one. She emphasized that the acrimonious, summer-long election process had “demonstrated the depth and range of talent in our Conservative Party.”
As Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister leads the nation through challenging circumstances, Sunak asked the party to “immediately unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss.’’
John’s departure from the Conservative Party in July led to this contest for the Conservative leadership.
Up until Truss is formally sworn in as the PM, Johnson still holds the PM office. He will deliver his parting speech outside Downing Street and then go to Balmoral to attend the ceremony.
In her victory speech, Truss praised her friend Johnson and said, “Boris, you got BREXIT done. You defeated Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party. You got the vaccination released and defied Vladimir Putin. Also, you have admirers from Carlisle to Kyiv.”
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