Liz Truss defeats Rishi Sunak to become UK's third woman PM

Truss’s selection was announced Monday in London after a leadership election in which only the 180,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote.

British lawmaker Liz Truss speaks after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London. (Photo |AP)

LONDON: Foreign secretary Liz Truss has defeated Indian-origin former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership race to become the new British Prime Minister, the party announced on Monday, ending weeks of high political drama.

Sir Graham Brady - chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs and returning officer of the leadership election, declared 47-year-old Truss as the winner of the contest for the top job at 10 Downing Street.

She is the third female Prime Minister in Britain, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

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 Truss (@trussliz) September 5, 2022

Truss’s selection was announced on Monday in London after a leadership election in which only the 180,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss beat rival Rishi Sunak, the government’s former Treasury chief, by promising to increase defence spending and cut taxes, while refusing to say how she would address the cost-of-living crisis.

Liz Truss, right, and Rishi Sunak on stage after a Conservative leadership election hustings at Wembley Arena in London on Wednesday. (Photo | AP)

Truss received 81,326 votes to Sunak's 60,399.

Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to formally name Truss as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday. The ceremony will take place at the queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, where the monarch is vacationing, rather than at Buckingham Palace.

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The two-month leadership contest left Britain with a power vacuum at a time when consumers, workers and businesses were demanding government action to mitigate the impact of soaring food and energy prices. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has had no authority to make major policy decisions since July 7, when he announced his intention to resign.

With household energy bills set to increase by 80% next month, charities warn that as many as one in three households will face fuel poverty this winter, leaving millions of people to choose between eating and heating their homes. The Bank of England has forecast that inflation will reach a 42-year high of 13.3% in October, threatening to push Britain into a prolonged recession.

“The new prime minister is facing a very, very difficult inheritance,” said Tim Bale, a political analyst and professor at Queen Mary University of London.

Johnson was forced to resign after a series of ethics scandals that peaked in July when dozens of cabinet ministers and lower level officials resigned over his handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a senior member of his government.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system of government, the center-right Conservative Party was allowed to hold an internal election to select a new party leader and prime minister, without going to the wider electorate. A new general election isn’t required until December 2024.

(With inputs from PTI and AP)