U.K. foreign secretary Liz Truss will replace Boris Johnson as prime minister after she won the leadership race for the ruling Conservative Party on Monday.
She defeated Rishi Sunak, the country’s former finance minister, securing 81,326 votes from party members compared with her opponent’s 60,399.
After presiding over a series of personal scandals, including lockdown-skirting party appearances, as well as serious national problems, Johnson announced in July that he would resign once his party chose a new leader.
Truss distinguished herself as a candidate who would combat wokeism, restore economic stability, and confidently handle negotiations with the European Union over Brexit. Queen Elizabeth II will appoint her prime minister of the U.K. at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Tuesday.
“Thanks for putting your faith in me to lead our Conservative Party, the greatest political party on earth,” Truss said at a campaign event at the capital.
Truss vowed in her acceptance speech to “deliver on the energy crisis,” which has sent food and energy bills soaring and real wages plummeting for British citizens amid record inflation.
Truss’s political alliance was with the Liberal party until she switched to the Conservatives, which she represented in Parliament in 2010. On the Brexit question, Truss started out as pro-European Union, voting to remain in the bloc during the 2016 referendum.
After cautioning against cutting ties with EU’s single market because of how it might increase costs for key U.K. industries and cause other economic disruption, Truss said during her Conservative leadership campaign in 2022 that she was “wrong.” She is now expected to attempt to restart talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland situation.