(London) The very liberal Liz Truss won the race on Monday to become British Prime Minister and succeed Boris Johnson, with the immediate challenge of tackling the historic crisis of purchasing power which is hitting the United Kingdom.
Posted at 7:45 a.m.
Updated at 9:18 a.m.
Liz Truss, 47, who led a very right-wing campaign focused on tax cuts, will become the third woman to lead the British government on Tuesday, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
Unsurprisingly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs won against her former finance colleague Rishi Sunak, following a vote reserved for members of the Conservative Party, triggered by the resignation in early July of Boris Johnson, cornered by the repeated scandals.
She won 81,326 votes (57%) against 60,399 for her rival (43%), a smaller gap than expected, when she was already not the only preference of deputies.
Remaining faithful to the end to Boris Johnson, whom she made applaud by listing Brexit, victory over Labor and support for Ukraine, Liz Truss will enter Downing Street in an explosive economic and social context, marked by inflation that exceeds 10%, an exorbitant increase in energy bills expected in the fall and strikes that spread.
She has no respite to convince, with two years of elections where the Labor opposition, which has a clear lead in the polls, hopes to dislodge the conservatives in power since 2010. Labor leader Keir Starmer welcomed the result by emphasizing that Liz Truss “is not on the side of the workers”.
Call for unity
After her victory was announced, Liz Truss promised “a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.”
“I will tackle the energy crisis by taking care of people’s energy bills, but also by taking care of the long-term difficulties of energy supply,” she added, while according to the press she is preparing to announce a freeze on energy bills.
She promised a “great victory” to her party in the legislative elections scheduled for 2024, seeming to immediately rule out early elections.
Elected leader of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss will automatically come to power because of the majority enjoyed by the “Tories” in the House of Commons.
Liz Truss will also have to deal with the shadow of Boris Johnson, who is already missing by some members of the Conservative Party and has not ruled out a return to politics.
Social growl
Sending his congratulations to Liz Truss, the outgoing leader called on the party for unity, after a campaign that exposed divisions and resentment among the Conservatives.
A call to which Rishi Sunak immediately responded favorably, while the new prime minister will have to “lead the country in a difficult period”.
Boris Johnson will go on Tuesday to hand in his resignation to Elizabeth II at his summer residence in Balmoral, Scotland, a first for the 96-year-old sovereign who has difficulty moving around and will not make the trip to London.
Liz Truss will follow to become 15e head of government for the 70-year reign of the monarch, before returning to London to deliver her first speech in front of 10 Downing Street and form her government.
The first foreign leader to react after the official announcement, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his “eagerness” to work with the new British leader, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “confident” about a strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
The same impatience displayed on the part of Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, while relations between the two countries have been severely tested by the consequences of Brexit.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she hoped “full respect [des] agreements” between the UK and the EU.
In a very right-wing campaign, sometimes to the point of seeming disconnected from the dramatic worsening of the crisis over the summer, Liz Truss, a belated convert to conservatism like Brexit, seduced by promising massive tax cuts and adopting a very harsh tone against the unions.
Yet the favorite of Conservative MPs, Rishi Sunak, a wealthy ex-banker, struggled to seduce the base of the party by advocating economic realism and was seen as a technocrat giving lessons unable to understand the difficulties of households.
If popular with Tories, 52% of Britons believe Liz Truss will be a bad or very bad prime minister according to a recent YouGov poll.