Friday, March 29

Liz Truss, new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to replace Boris Johnson


No surprises, the United Kingdom already has a new premiere. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has been chosen to lead the Conservative Party and will therefore succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned from her in early July.

The turn of the ‘Tories’ to the right can cost them the support of even their voters

Know more

The conservative formation announced this Monday that Truss has prevailed over the former Minister of the Economy, Rishi Sunak, in the contest for the leadership of the British Conservatives, which began in July with internal votes of the deputies and culminated in September with a consultation between the party’s affiliates, a process during which the foreign minister has remained the favorite.

Despite the fact that Sunak received the highest number of supports among the deputies, Truss is a more popular figure among the bases: he has garnered 81,326 votes, around 57%, compared to the 60,399 that the former foreign minister has obtained. In her first speech after defeating Sunak, the conservative leader has assured that the campaign has been “very close” and has shown “the depth and magnitude of the talent” of the party.

Truss, 47, will be the third woman to serve as prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. The person elected to lead the Conservative Party also becomes Downing Street’s new tenant due to the Conservatives having the most seats in Parliament.

the new leader tory She will be formally appointed Prime Minister this Tuesday, when she will replace Johnson, who announced her resignation on July 7 plunged into a political crisis after the cascade of resignations within her Government as a result of various scandals, from the celebrations that broke the rules of the pandemic to the handling of sexual harassment accusations against a Conservative MP.

Several open fronts

As prime minister, Truss will have to face several open crises, from the increase in inflation and the cost of living to the energy crisis and the saturation and lack of resources in the health system. Conservative to the right of Sunak, Truss has insisted on her promise to cut taxes and assures that she will present aid to pay the electricity bill this week. “I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative,” she said in her first speech after winning the internal process tory.

“The Conservative Party has a program based on its 2019 manifesto, but with just over two years to go before the next general election, the new prime minister will likely want to wipe the slate clean from the previous administration, while prioritizing to the policies that, in his opinion, the voters will most want to see applied between now and 2024”, says the thinktank British Institute for Government.

From the Foreign Ministry, Truss, who campaigned in favor of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union, has promoted in recent months the controversial law that will allow the United Kingdom to stop unilaterally applying aspects of the Brexit agreement on Ireland from North that London considers problematic. the conservative leader has thus gone from supporting permanence in the EU to defend the exit with all its consequences.

According to Guardian, his followers love his rhetoric, which emphasizes freedom, free trade and patriotism. Truss has a well-cared public image, including a Thatcher-style photograph, on top of a tank.

Truss, perceived as loyal to Boris Johnson, was appointed Foreign Minister on September 15, 2021. Two years earlier she had been elected Secretary of State for Women and Equality. She has held other ministerial posts, such as International Trade, Justice and Environment – ​​she was recruited by David Cameron and May kept her in the cabinet. The leader tory He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University’s Merton College and entered Parliament in 2010 for South West Norfolk, in the east of England.

Johnson and his successor are expected to travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Tuesday to hold their respective audiences with Queen Elizabeth II, who spends her summer vacations at this residence. Johnson will first formally present her resignation to the monarch and, immediately afterwards, Elizabeth II will call Truss to ask her to form a government. Once this act has been completed, the new premiere will travel to London to designate the members of his Government.





www.eldiario.es