September 05, (THEWILL) – Liz Truss has won the ruling Conservative Party’s leadership contest on Monday to emerge as new Prime Minister.
Truss will replace Boris Johnson as prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership race.
Sir Graham Brady, the 1922 Committee chair, announced on Monday that the Foreign Secretary, defeated Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, by 81,326 (57.4 percent) of total votes to beat her contender Rishi Sunak who received 60,399 at 42.6 percent.
Truss saw off six rivals in a series of run-off votes among Conservative Members of Parliament (MP) and defeated former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak in a vote among 172,000 Conservative party members, who represent less than 1 percent of the country’s population.
The party’s new leader will inherit a parliamentary majority and therefore become prime minister following formal handover procedures on Tuesday
Delivering her victory speech at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in central London, Ms Truss said, as premier she will lead the Conservative Party to a “great victory” at the 2024 general election as she stressed her priority will be on delivering on policy pledges.
“Thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on earth.
“I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people: our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility. I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019, and as your party leader I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country.
“I know that we will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver. And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024. We will deliver a great victory
“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”, she pledged.
“During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative”, citing her intention to “deliver” on cutting taxes, growing the economy, the energy crisis, and the NHS.
“Because my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver and we … and we… and we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024. Thank you”, she added.
Since entering Parliament in 2010, Truss has rapidly climbed the political ladder and has held a number of cabinet positions under previous leaders David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, including her current role of foreign secretary.
Truss’ victory marks the end of an arduous and acrimonious summer of Tory politicians duking it out to replace Johnson.
Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader in early July after multiple scandals provoked widespread outrage and a mass exodus of government officials.
After being handed the keys to No 10 at Balmoral on Tuesday, Ms Truss “will face one of the most difficult inheritances of any prime minister” in the past 50 years, warned former No 10 Chief of Staff, Gavin Barwell.
About the Author
