Liz Truss Wins Race Against Rishi Sunak, Named New UK Premier
Liz Truss will become the Conservatives party's fourth and the country's third female UK Prime Minister
LONDON: After a lot of speculation over who would become the next UK PM, Liz Truss emerges as the winner of a leadership race for the governing Conservative party. She is set to become the third female Prime Minister of the UK.
After weeks of divided opinion in the leadership contest which saw the current Finance Minister Truss embarking on a contest with the former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. Truss came out on top in a vote of Conservative Party members.
In July this year, Boris Johnson was forced to step down after months of scandal saw support for his administration drain away.
Johnson will travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the Queen's summer home to tender his resignation. Truss will follow him after she gets an official order from the Monarch to form the government.
Truss will become the Conservatives party's fourth prime minister since the 2015 election.
Truss faces a long, costly and difficult to-do list, which opposition lawmakers say is the result of 12 years of poor Conservative governance. Several have called for an early election - something Truss has said she will not allow.
Truss also faces an economic problem of the country which has seen the country slip down a position from being the 5th largest economy in the world to now the 6th largest economy in the world. The UK is now even behind India in terms of GDP.
There are also reports that Liz Truss would appoint a strong cabinet, dispensing with what one source close to her called a "presidential-style" of governing, and she will have to work hard to win over some lawmakers in her party who had backed Sunak in the race.
Truss managed to get 81,326 votes of Tory members against former chancellor Rishi Sunak who secured 60,399 votes.
In her winning speech from the Queen Elizabeth II Centre auditorium, Truss said, "It's an honour to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party". She also added that it was one of the longest job interviews in history.
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