Britain’s Conservative Party has announced its new leader is Liz Truss, who has served as foreign minister for the past 12 months. She will be formally appointed as the next prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, likely on Tuesday afternoon.
“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy,” Truss said in her victory speech, adding that she will also take on challenges from high energy bills to the National Health Service.
The result follows a nationwide vote by the party’s grassroots members that lasted several weeks this summer. Truss will become the country’s fourth leader in a politically turbulent six-year period.
It marks only the third time in history that a woman will assume power in 10 Downing Street, but the third time in recent years that a change of prime minister has occurred without a national general election.
“We will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver,” Truss said, echoing a key campaign theme. “And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024” — when the next national elections are slated to be held.
Truss replaces Boris Johnson, who was laid low by a succession of scandals that crescendoed in the first half of this year. After losing support of not only the majority of his fellow Conservative legislators, but also many of his own ministers, he was forced to resign. /Argumentum.al with newswires
