LONDON, Sep 5: Liz Truss was announced the leader of the governing Conservative Party and Britain’s next Prime Minister on September 5, taking power at a time when the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession.
Extending a vote of thanks to her family, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson among others, Ms. Truss said she will cut taxes and deliver growth and deliver on the NHS and tackle the energy bill crisis.
“During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative,“ she said.
After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive party leadership contest that pitted Ms. Truss against Mr. Sunak, a former finance minister, Monday’s announcement triggered the beginning of a handover from Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and he will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. Ms. Truss will follow him and be asked to form a government.
Long the front-runner in the race to replace Mr. Johnson, Ms. Truss became the Conservatives’ fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July.
Below are key quotes from her victory speech:
“I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative. My friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.”
“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply.”
“I also want to thank our outgoing leader, my friend, Boris Johnson. Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn. You rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.” (Agencies)
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