Truss, 47, set to take over as UK’s next PM

London, UK | Xinhua | Liz Truss, foreign secretary of the United Kingdom (UK), has won the ruling Conservative Party’s leadership contest and will replace Boris Johnson as the country’s new prime minister.

In the runoff, Truss beat her rival, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak by winning approximately 57.4 percent of the Conservative Party members’ vote, Graham Brady, chair of the party’s backbench 1922 Committee, announced here on Monday.

I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.

Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country.

I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential. pic.twitter.com/xCGGTJzjqb

— Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 5, 2022

Voting by the 200,000-odd Conservative Party members began in early August, a month after Johnson was forced to step down following an avalanche of ministerial resignations over his scandal-plagued leadership.

The formal handover will take place on Tuesday after Truss and Johnson meet Queen Elizabeth II, who is staying at her Balmoral estate in Scotland. Both are expected to deliver a speech outside 10 Downing Street.

Truss, 47, is to become the UK’s third female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. She faces the immediate tasks of tackling the worsening cost-of-living crisis and handling a Brexit arrangement about Northern Ireland to avoid antagonizing the European Union.

“I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party. Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country. I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential,” she said soon after ■