Meet Liz Truss, the new British Prime Minister

Serving as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021, British politician Mary Elizabeth Truss has become as leader of the governing Conservative Party and Britain’s next prime minister on 5 September. She is 3rd woman Prime Minister of United Kingdom after Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. 

Also referred as Mary Elizabeth Truss, she contested against divisive party leadership contest that pitted her against former finance minister Rishi Sunak. She won 81,326 votes of Tory members against former chancellor Rishi Sunak who secured 60,399 votes. 

In her winning speech from the Queen Elizabeth II Centre auditorium, Truss said, “It's an honour to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, ” adding it was one of the longest job interviews in history.

Following his resignation in July after months of scandal, former British PM Boris Johnson had said that he is okay with anyone replacing him, except Rishi Sunak.

With the announcement of the new leader of the governing Conservative Party, will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth, who will ask the new leader to form a government.

Let's check who is Liz Truss:

Birth and family: Born on 26 July 1975 in Oxford to an emeritus professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds (father) and a Latin teacher at Bolton School (mother), Truss married Hugh O'Leary in 2000 and has two daughters.

Education: Truss attended Roundhay School in the Roundhay area of Leeds. She read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Merton College in Oxford and graduated in 1996.

Professional career: Started her career as a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) in 1999. She later was employed by Cable & Wireless and rose to economic director before leaving in 2005. Following that, she fought two elections and lost, then became the full-time deputy director of Reform in January 2008.

Political career: Between 1998 to 2000, Truss served as the chair of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association Was elected as a councilor for Eltham South in the Greenwich London Borough Council election in 2006.

Parliamentary career: She was elected to the House of Commons on 6 May 2010. Truss was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education on 4 September 2012.

Along with this, she was given the responsibility for childcare and early learning, assessment, qualifications and curriculum reform, behaviour and attendance, and school food review.

During a cabinet reshuffle in 2014, Truss was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 15 July, 2014, and replaced Owen Paterson.

In 2016, she was appointed as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor in Theresa May's first ministry. With this, she became the first woman to hold either position and the first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the office.

Following the general elections in 2017 in the United Kingdom, Truss was moved to the position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 11 July. In 2019 only, Truss declared that she could be a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party to succeed May, but she endorsed Boris Johnson.

For supporting Boris Johnson, she was promoted to the position of Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade. With the resignation of Amber Rudd in Boris Johnson government, Truss was additionally appointed Minister for Women and Equalities.

In the 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Johnson promoted Truss from International Trade Secretary to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. She became the second woman to hold the position after Margaret Beckett.

As several controversies surrounded British PM Boris Johnson and he resigned from his post, Truss on 10 July, 2022, announced her intention to run in the Conservative Party leadership election.

In her campaign, she promised to cut taxes on day one if elected and bring down rising inflation in the country. Her views on free trade has been a centre of attraction for most of the governing Conservative Party leaders who have supported her since her campaign.