Liz Truss has emerged United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister after winning the Conservative Party’s leadership contest on Monday with 57.4 per cent of the vote.
She defeated rival Rishi Sunak, who got 42.6 per cent of votes cast.
Truss will formally take over as the country’s leader tomorrow, September 6, after months of scandals plunged Boris Johnson’s administration into crisis and forced him to resign.
In her victory speech, she congratulated Sunak, who pushed her closer than many expected in the final ballot and gave a hearty tribute to Johnson.
“Boris: you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine, and you stood up to Vladimir Putin,” Truss said. “You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.”
The incoming UK Prime Minister said she considers it an honour to have been elected as party leader and thanked the party staff “for organising one of the longest job interviews in history”.
Truss will inherit a cost-of-living crisis, the aftershocks of Brexit, a war in Europe and dropping support for the Conservatives in the opinion polls, but has promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes and said she will address spiralling energy prices that are driving a cost-of-living crisis in the country.
“I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people,” she told the crowd of Conservative members. “I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.”
(Reuters)
