Liz Truss wins Conservative Party leadership contest and will replace Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister

Boris Johnson’s days as UK Prime Minister are over, with the Conservative Party naming a new leader.

Liz Truss will become the UK’s new Prime Minister after winning a vote to become the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party.

Ms Truss, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, overwhelmingly beat former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in a poll of about 170,000 members of the right-leaning party.

She received 81,326 votes (57.4%), while Mr Sunak received 60,399 (42.6%).

The 47-year-old will officially replace Boris Johnson on Tuesday, when they meet the Queen separately at her Balmoral estate in Scotland.

Ms Truss used her speech to thank Mr Johnson for his work as PM, which started with his own leadership election win in 2019.

“Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine. And you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You were admired from Kyiv to Carlisle [in the north west of England],” she said.

She also thanked Mr Sunak and other rivals who ran for the top job, saying they had displayed “the breadth and depth of talent in the Conservative party”.

“Friends and colleagues, thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on Earth,” Ms Truss added.

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Liz Truss is announced as the next Prime Minister. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

“During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a conservative,” Ms Truss said in her victory speech.

“And my friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.

“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.

“I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply. And I will deliver on the National Health Service.

“But we all will deliver for our country. And I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative party... Because, my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver.

“And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024. Thank you.”

Liz Truss will become the UK’s new Prime Minister after beating Rishi Sunak to the top job (Photo by Susannah Ireland / AFP)

Mr Johnson will tender his resignation to Her Majesty on Tuesday, and will recommend she appoints Ms Truss as the 16th PM of her reign.

Ms Truss will then meet the Queen to “kiss hands” - the official ceremony that makes her the new leader, but doesn’t actually require her to kiss the 96-year-old’s hand.

The meeting with the Queen usually takes place at Buckingham Palace, but this time round there will a break with tradition as Her Majesty is not be well enough to travel back to London from her summer home.

Mr Johnson congratulated Ms Truss on her “decisive win”.

“I know she has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country. Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent,” he said.

Theresa May, PM from 2016 to 2019, said: “We must now work together to address the challenges facing our country. Tackling the cost of living, delivering for those in need & managing the public finances responsibly. I look forward to supporting the government in that task.”

Her predecessor David Cameron tweeted: “At this time of challenge & global uncertainty, I wish the new government well. I never forget the support I had from all former Conservative leaders when I won the ballot in 2005 & I hope all Conservatives will unite behind the new PM.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to congratulate Ms Truss, saying: “I look forward to a continued constructive relationship and friendship between our nations and people.”

Mr Sunak said: “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.”

It always looked likely that Ms Truss would beat Mr Sunak, with the Foreign Secretary shaping herself as a ‘continuity Boris’ candidate.

Her views on Europe, Brexit and tax closely align with those held by the majority of Conservative members, although Mr Sunak, 42, has proven to be more popular with regular Brits - who did not get to vote on who would be the new PM.

Liz Truss reacts as she is greeted by supporters upon her arrival to attend a Conservative Party Hustings event in Birmingham. (Photo by Geoff Caddick / AFP)

Energy crisis

Ms Truss faces a stern test immediately after taking office, with growing fears that millions of Brits could struggle to afford energy bills as winter approaches.

She has vowed not to introduce any new taxes as Prime Minister, and ruled out bringing in a windfall tax on oil and gas firms that have posted large profits while families struggle to make ends meet.

Mr Sunak had said he would have made the big firms cough up via a windfall tax, saying: “It is absolutely the right thing to do when the energy companies are making billions of pounds of profits because of a war.”

Ms Truss has said she will offer more support to the poorest families, but hasn’t explained what form that might take, other than that she will cut taxes across the board.

There has been some suggestion that she may cut VAT by 5%.

Ms Truss has, however, said she wants to bring in a more long-term strategy to secure Britain’s gas supply - and has spoken of lifting a ban on fracking.

“You’ll have heard me talking about supply of energy and that’s why I think dealing with supply is the answer to this problem because you’re right, it’s not just a problem for people, it’s a problem for businesses with high energy costs,” she said at the final debate before the vote closed.

“So, I will be looking across the board to make sure we’re increasing supply and therefore dealing with the root cause of the issue rather than just putting a sticking plaster on, but I would absolutely be looking to act on business energy costs.”

Rishi Sunak failed in his bid to become PM (Photo by Joe Giddens / POOL / AFP)

Foreign affairs

Ms Truss, despite being Foreign Secretary, has not always made the greatest impression overseas.

She’ll admit herself that she’s not the finest public speaker - just ask her about her bizarre speech about cheese.

And she’s already managed to make a foreign policy gaffe in the lead-up to becoming PM, by offending French President Emmanuel Macron.

Asked if Mr Macron was a “friend or foe” during a debate, Ms Truss gave a surprising answer about Britain’s Nato ally.

“The jury’s out,” she responded. “But if I become prime minister, I would judge him on deeds, not words.”

Mr Macron said Ms Truss answer was a “problem”.

Ms Truss will replace the outgoing Boris Johnson (Photo by JESSICA TAYLOR / UK PARLIAMENT / AFP)

“Listen, it’s never good to lose your bearings too much in life. If one asks the question – which is how I will answer you – whoever is considered for the leadership in Great Britain, I won’t ponder it for a single second,” he said.

“The United Kingdom is a friend of France, and you know we live in a complicated world, there are more and more liberals, authoritarian democracies, so there is a sense of imbalance.

“If the French and British are not capable of saying whether we are friends or enemies – the term is not neutral – we are going to have a problem.

“So yes of course the British people, the nation which is the United Kingdom, is a friend, strong and allied, whoever its leaders are and sometimes in spite of the leaders and the small mistakes they can make in their speeches.”

Mr Sunak said Mr Macron was a “friend” of Britain, while Mr Johnson quipped: “Emmanuel Macron est un très bon buddy.”

Ms Truss also faces the difficult challenge of the war in Ukraine.

She undermined her ability to command the situation in a cringeworthy meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov back in February, before Moscow’s invasion.

Lavrov asked her during the meeting if she recognised Russian sovereignty over Rostov and Voronezh.

Ms Truss replied that they would never be recognised as Russian.

Unfortunately for her, they are both Russian regions, and she had to be corrected by her ambassador.