LONDON (Washington Insider Magazine)– Liz Truss was elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom on Monday, making her eligible to be affirmed as the nation’s prime minister.
In a leadership contest, in which just the 180,000 paid party members could cast ballots, Truss defeated competitor Rishi Sunak. According to ABC NEWS, Queen Elizabeth II will officially appoint Truss as prime minister on Tuesday.
Following her election, Truss gave a speech in which she praised her “friend” and outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and called it a “honor” to have been elected. She would become the 3rd female prime minister in the history of the UK and the 4th since 2016.
Previously, Sunak, the ex chancellor of the exchequer, whose resignation contributed to Johnson’s departure from power earlier this year, appointed Truss as his foreign secretary.
After 8 weeks of campaign, Conservative Party members cast their ballots, with Truss—a Johnson loyalist who stated she did not endorse his resignation—emerging as the clear front-runner.
Questions over how either candidate would handle the impending economic meltdown headlined the campaign. According to the Bank of England, home energy costs are anticipated to soar this winter and inflation has already reached a 4-decade high of 10.1%. The main point of contention between Sunak and Truss was taxation. While Truss said she would not raise taxes, Sunak advocated for a windfall tax on energy company profits to lessen the burden on consumers.
Within a week of assuming office, Truss vowed to take action on the energy problem, but she hasn’t specified her intentions in any detail and declined to do so when pressed by BBC News on Sunday.
She will also be tasked with unifying the split Conservative Party. Johnson’s time in power was overshadowed by scandals, most notably the “Partygate” scandal involving the unlawful gatherings that took place at government houses while the U.K. was put under heavy lockdown due to the COVID pandemic. Johnson’s critics claim that his behavior and his flexible understanding of the truth hurt the reputation of the Conservative Party, despite the fact that his followers will remember him for obtaining a significant electoral victory, Brexit, and backing for Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer, the head of the opposing Labour Party, claimed in an opinion piece that was published over the weekend in The Sunday Telegraph that the election of a 4th Conservative PM in recent times did not herald a “new dawn” for Uk.
Johnson declared in July that he had decided to step down as Conservative Party leader, which would culminate in his resignation as prime minister after the party chose a replacement in a leadership contest. Johnson will not officially hand in his resignation to the queen until after his successor has been given the go-ahead to form a government, at which point Truss will be sworn in as the new prime minister. The ceremony is set to occur Tuesday at the queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, where the queen is vacationing, instead of at Buckingham Palace.
