Liz Truss wins Conservative Party leadership, to become next UK PM

Liz Truss, UK foreign secretary, has been named leader of the governing Conservative Party and next prime minister (PM).

This was announced on Monday by Graham Brady, returning officer of the 1922 committee of conservative backbench MPs.

Truss won after a closely-contested race with Rishi Sunak, former UK chancellor.

“I declare the total number of eligible voters was 172,437. The turn out in the election was 82.6%. The total number of votes rejected was 654,” Brady said.

“Rishi Sunak scores 60,399, Liz Truss, 81,326. Therefore I give notice that Liz Truss is the new leader of the Conservative party.”

The leadership contest began in July after Boris Johnson announced his departure following of scandals and resignations from his government.

Voting among the party members for choosing Johnson’s successor closed on Friday.

Truss will become the conservatives’ fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. She is also UK’s third female prime minister — after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

She was a centrist liberal democrat in her youth before joining the conservative party, and she voted for Britain to remain in the European Union.

She has promised to slash taxes and prioritise economic growth. She also said she would within a week come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies.

Johnson and Truss will, on Tuesday, travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II is staying.

Johnson will tender his resignation and soon after, in a ceremony known as ‘kissing hands’, Truss will ask the queen for permission to form a new government.