By Adedapo Adesanya
Britain’s Conservative party has announced Liz Truss as its new leader to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The foreign secretary comfortably beat her rival, former finance minister, Mr Rishi Sunak, by about 57 to 43 per cent after a long contest decided by just over 170,000 Conservative members.
She won 81,326 votes (57.4 per cent) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6 per cent) and is set to take over from Mr Johnson, who was ousted by his own Members of Parliament some months ago.
In a short victory speech at the announcement in a central London convention hall, Truss said it was an “honour” to be elected after undergoing “one of the longest job interviews in history”.
“I campaigned as a Conservative, and I will govern as a Conservative,” she said, touting Tory values of low taxes and personal responsibility.
Britain’s fourth Tory prime minister in six years declared “we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver” on the many challenges facing her government, including the state of the NHS as she also vowed a “bold plan” to address tax cuts and the energy crisis.
She appeared to rule out a snap general election, telling the audience in central London that she would “deliver a great victory for the Conservative party in 2024”.
Truss, 47, will be only the UK’s third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher.
She will formally take office on Tuesday after Mr Johnson tenders his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
The leadership contest began in July after Johnson announced his departure following a slew of scandals and resignations from his government, including Sunak’s.
Truss reserved a portion of her short speech to praising the outgoing Johnson’s record, including on Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, and said he was “admired from Kyiv to Carlisle”.
Business Post understands that an emergency budget is expected within her administration’s first month to set out how she will bolster the economy amid sustained low growth, soaring inflation, flatlining wages, and the very real prospect of recession.
