Liz Truss will be the new UK prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest
It was a closer result than many pundits expected, with Truss taking 57% of valid votes cast
Speaking at a conference centre in Westminster, she thanked Sunak for a “hard-fought campaign” and pledged to deliver a “bold plan”
Truss will become prime minister on Tuesday after travelling to meet the Queen at Balmoral in Scotland
The current foreign secretary is under immediate pressure to announce a plan to tackle soaring energy costs.
She is understood to be considering a freeze on energy bills, with an announcement potentially scheduled for Thursday
Labour’s Keir Starmer has congratulated her but says the country is facing a “Tory cost of living crisis”
Age: 47
Place of birth: Oxford
Home: London and Norfolk
Education: Roundhay School in Leeds, Oxford University
Family: Married to accountant Hugh O’Leary with two teenage daughters
Parliamentary constituency: South West Norfolk
Her political history
Liz Truss is to become the UK’s next prime minister after winning the contest to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader. But where did she come from and what makes her tick?
A Remain supporter who has become the darling of the Brexit-backing Conservative right wing.
A former Liberal Democrat activist, who marched against Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, but who now claims to be the keeper of the Thatcherite flame.
It is fair to say that Mary Elizabeth Truss has been on a political journey.
She may not be a household name like her predecessor at Number 10 – and she was not the first choice of Tory MPs to replace Boris Johnson.
But her promise to return to fundamental Conservative values – cutting taxes and shrinking the state – proved to be exactly what party members, who got the final say over who took over from Mr Johnson, wanted to hear.
And, crucially, as foreign secretary she remained loyal to Mr Johnson until the bitter end as other ministers deserted him, winning her favour with Johnson loyalists.
Grassroots Tory supporters of Liz Truss see in her the steadfast, tenacious and determined qualities they admired in Margaret Thatcher – an image Ms Truss herself has tried to cultivate.
But despite her shifting political positions and allegiances over the years, these words also come up frequently when friends and family are asked to describe her character – along with “ambitious”.
