Liz Truss will be Britain’s next prime minister after she was elected leader of the ruling Conservative Party on Monday, ending a race to succeed the scandal-tarnished Boris Johnson.
Truss, 47, has been foreign secretary and was the clear front-runner. She clinched victory by appealing to the right-wing party faithful as a tax-cutting, anti-"woke" candidate who would take a hard line on post-Brexit dealings with the European Union.
She inherits a country facing a dire winter energy crisis, widespread strikes and economic recession — as well as long-term questions about the erosion of its cherished public services and its status as a world power after Brexit. Those issues were largely absent from discussion in the two-month leadership race, in which she defeated the former chancellor of the exchequer, or finance minister, Rishi Sunak, by 57% to 43% in the final runoff.
That is a smaller margin than opinion polling had suggested and than her supporters may have hoped for.
As leader of the country's largest party, she will be appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Tuesday, a break from tradition for the aging monarch, who has always performed the royal duty in London.
Her victory means she will become the country’s third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
Johnson announced his resignation in July when six months of rolling scandals culminated in a critical mass of his own lawmakers’ abandoning him.
