Liz Truss will be the next UK Prime Minister.
Ms Truss won the race to be leader of the Conservative Party, it was revealed this lunchtime. She will become PM tomorrow (Tuesday).
She defeated North Yorkshire MP Rishi Sunak with 81,326 votes to 60,399 and will take over as Prime Minister with the immediate challenge of easing the cost-of-living crisis for households across the country faced with soaring energy bills.
Ms Truss, who was Foreign Secretary, used her victory speech to indicate she would not be triggering an early general election, instead pledging to secure “a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024”.
She won by a significant margin, but the 57% victory over Mr Sunak’s 43% was slimmer than in other recent contests.
A total of 172,437 people voted – a turnover of more than 86%.
The result was announced at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee.
She will be Britain’s 56th Prime Minister and the third woman to take the role.
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Liz Truss said it was an honour to be announced as the winner of the Tory leadership contest after a “hard-fought campaign” against Rishi Sunak.
She told the Tories and the nation: “During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.
“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.”
Boris Johnson will officially resign as Prime Minister at a meeting with the Queen at Balmoral tomorrow. Then Ms Truss will visit the Queen to become the new PM, before she starts putting together her new cabinet.
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