Liz Truss elected next UK PM: 10 facts about Boris Johnson’s successor

 

Liz Truss defeated rival Rishi Sunak to be named the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest on Monday and will now go on to formally take charge as the UK’s next Prime Minister.

Liz Truss has won the Tory leadership contest and will replace Boris Johnson as UK prime minister. (AP photo)

Liz Truss was elected as the next Prime Minister of UK on Monday, bringing an end to weeks of high-political drama. Liz Truss defeated Indian-origin former chancellor Rishi Sunak in Conservative Party leadership race to become the next UK PM.

Liz Truss’s election to the top post comes at a time when the country in the throes of its worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, with inflation soaring as energy prices rocket on the back of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Here’s all you need to know about Liz Truss, UK’ next prime minister:

1) Liz Truss was born in Oxford in 1975. She attended Oxford University, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics and was active in student politics

2) Truss is the MP from South West Norfolk and has held the seat since 2010. She has served in various Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson

3) Under Theresa May, Liz Truss served as justice secretary before becoming the chief secretary to the Treasury4) Under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss was the international trade secretary in 2019. She took over as foreign secretary in 2021

5) Liz Truss, who replaces ousted Boris Johnson, became the Conservatives' fourth prime minister since a 2015 election6) Liz Truss polled 81,326 votes, compared to Rishi Sunak's 60,399 in an election with a high turnout of 82.6 per cent, with 654 rejected ballots from a total of 172,437 eligible Tory voters

7) Liz Truss is the third female Prime Minister in Britain, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May

8) EU diplomats say that although Liz Truss was originally opposed to Britain's exit from the bloc ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum, she wholeheartedly backed it as a member of Boris Johnson's cabinet

9) Liz Truss has promised to act quickly to tackle Britain's cost of living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies

10) During weeks of leadership campaign, 47-year-old Liz Truss has signalled she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies that some economists say would fuel inflation.