The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party on Monday has announced Liz Truss as its new leader, putting her in line to be confirmed as the country’s prime minister.
This is coming weeks after Boris Johnson resignation.
Truss beat rival Rishi Sunak in a leadership election, in which only the 180,000 dues-paying members of the ruling party were allowed to vote. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to formally name Truss as prime minister on Tuesday.
In a speech on Monday following her victory, Truss said it was an “honor” to be elected and paid tribute to her “friend” Boris Johnson, the prime minister she will be succeeding. She will become the U.K.’s fourth prime minister since 2016 and the country’s third female premier ever.
Truss previously served in Johnson’s cabinet as the foreign secretary under Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer whose resignation helped bring about Johnson’s downfall earlier this year.
Members of the Conservative Party cast their votes after eight weeks of campaigning, with Truss — a supporter of Johnson who said she did not back his resignation — emerging as the overwhelming favorite.
The campaign was dominated by questions about what either candidate would do to tackle a looming economic crisis, with household energy bills set to skyrocket this winter and inflation — already reaching a four-decade high at 10.1% — expected to rise even further, according to the Bank of England.
Truss and Sunak clashed most fiercely on the issue of tax, with Truss saying she would not raise taxes while Sunak has supported a windfall tax on energy companies’ profits to help ease the burden on households.
