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Lizz Truss is the New UK PM – Beats Sunak in the Tory Leadership Race

Lizz Truss is the New UK PM – Beats Sunak in the Tory Leadership Race

Liz Truss becomes the new UK Prime Minister by beating Sunak in the Tory Leadership Race

Liz Truss is finally selected to replace Borris Johnson, the outgoing UK Prime Minister. With the result declared on Monday, the 47-year-old UK foreign secretary beat Rishi Sunak to win the Conservative Party leadership contest.

More than 170,000 votes were cast through posts and online by Tory members. And the Senior Cabinet minister was expected to take over as the third female Britain PM. However, this victory ended Sunak’s historic run as the first one competing for the top job of the first member of Parliament of Indian heritage.

Out of 172,437 eligible Tory voters (excluding 654 rejected ballots), Truss earned 81326 votes against 60,399 for Sunak. The election also observed a high turnout rate, measured at 82.6%. Although Liz’s victory came with a comfortable margin, the margin was slimmer than other Tory leadership contests held recently.

After the result, Sunak shared a positive response for party unity, thanking all the voters who supported him. He also emphasized the statement that Conservatives are a single family.

Exchequer’s former chancellor mentioned that the party now unites begin Liz Truss, the new PM who will now be steering the country through challenging times.

After the victory, Truss gave an acceptance speech, during which she declared, “We will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver.” She assures Britons about working on the energy crisis and dealing with the energy bills of the people along with long-term energy supply issues.

During the speech, she also thanked Sunak, her fellow finalist, and paid tribute to Borris, the outgoing leader.

She also admired Borris for getting the Brexit done, rolling out the vaccine, standing for Vladamir Putin, and crushing Jeremy Corbyn. She also referred to the 2024 Tory victory under her leadership, ruling out the chances of the early general election.

Sir Graham Brady, the returning officer of the leadership contest and chair of the Conservative Party's powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, formally announced the result at Queen Elizabeth II Center near Downing Street, London.

However, the result was a bit surprising for media outlets, political analysts, and pollsters as bookmaker odds and pre-poll surveys stated Truss as the frontrunner for beating Sunak.

The loyalty of the Tory membership base to Borris Johnson was the key factor that led to this result. They believed the British Indian PM was Johnson’s close ally and betrayed him. Another reason was the pledge by Truss to cut taxes.

BBC commented, “Truss may have been victorious, but it wasn't the landslide that many were predicting.”

Liz Truss is the first leader to have secured less than 60% of member votes since the change of internal election rules by the Conservative Party in 2001.
Duncan Smith (2001) secured 60.7%, David Cameron (2005) secured 67.6%, and Borris Johnson (2019) got 66.4% votes. However, Truss won with 57% of the members' votes.

Next, Truss can claim her new office at 10, Downing Street, after a formal resignation by her predecessor Johnson to the Queen at Scotland’s Balmoral Castle.

This will follow the first audience of Truss as PM-elect with the 96-year-old monarch. After that, she will fly back to London to announce the top team of her cabinet followed by her inaugural speech at her new office.

A face-off with Sir Keir Starmer, the labour leader, and addressing the very first PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) in the House of Commons is scheduled for Truss on Wednesday.

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