London — Liz Truss officially became Britain’s new prime minister on Tuesday after Boris Johnson formally resigned to Queen Elizabeth II at her home in Balmoral, Scotland, and the monarch accepted Truss as the new leader, inviting her to form a government.
The process was largely a formality, to make official the results of an internal power struggle in one of Britain’s main political parties. Johnson’s three-year tenure was peppered with scandals, which eventually resulted in his ouster.
So, who is the woman the Conservative Party has chosen to replace him?
Like Johnson, 47-year-old Truss is a member of Britain’s Conservative party.
She has served as a member of the British Parliament for 12 years and held cabinet roles within various Conservative governments for eight years, serving most recently as Foreign Secretary.
Before that, she served as Environment Secretary and Justice Secretary.
Truss is seen as a libertarian, and has pledged to cut taxes despite some economists warning the move could send inflation — which is already hovering around a 40-year high in Britain — even higher, as the U.K. teeters on the brink of recession.
She takes over the premiership as the country faces that, and a number of other significant challenges, including sky-rocketing energy prices driven by the war in Ukraine.
As one of her first moves in office, Truss is expected to announce an energy price cap, which would limit the amount people have to pay to heat their homes over the winter, but would cost the government £100 billion (about $116 billion). That, on top of the huge amount of public debt already incurred under Johnson’s government to get Britons through the coronavirus pandemic.
Truss initially campaigned against Brexit, which Johnson championed, but she changed her position after the public referendum supported the exit from the European Union. She has pledged, as leader, to wipe much of the EU law that bound Britain as a member of the bloc off the books, including labor and environmental rules that she considers outdated.
Truss has also spoken out against what she calls a “woke” culture in the U.K. civil service.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-liz-truss-britains-new-prime-minister/
