Liz Truss elected as UK’s new Prime Minister

Liz Truss has been appointed as the next Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Conservative Party.

Truss beat Rishi Sunak, a member of the Parliament and former chancellor of the exchequer, to become Britain’s third female PM after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝙉𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘾𝙀𝘿: @TrussLiz has been elected as the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party 👇 pic.twitter.com/kbY2fp5z4X

— Conservatives (@Conservatives) September 5, 2022

The new appointment comes less than two months since Boris Johnson, the erstwhile Tory leader, resigned on July 7.

Read: Boris Johnson resigns as UK Prime Minister

Truss took to Twitter to express her gratitude at being elected party leader.

I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.

Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country.

I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential. pic.twitter.com/xCGGTJzjqb

— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) September 5, 2022

Meanwhile, Sunak also took to social media to thank those who voted for him.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign.

I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family.

It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) September 5, 2022

Political career 

Truss was appointed Parliamentary under secretary of state for education and childcare in September 2012, as well as served as the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs from July 2014 until July 2016.

From thereon, Truss was Lord Chancellor and secretary of state for justice from July 2016 until June 2017. She was also the chief secretary to the Treasury from June 2017 until July 2019, and later appointed minister for women and equalities on September 10, 2019.

On September 15 of last year, Truss was appointed secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs.

Outside the bounds of her political career, Truss also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director. She has studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford.