Mary Elizabeth Truss, a British politician who has been the secretary of state for the foreign, commonwealth, and development affairs since 2021, was elected as the governing Conservative Party's leader and Britain's new prime minister on September 5.
After Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher, she is the third woman to serve as prime minister of the UK. She ran in a divisive party leadership contest against the former finance minister Rishi Sunak. Former chancellor Rishi Sunak received 60,399 votes, but she received 81,326 votes from Tory members. Read on to know more about the UK Prime minister.
Who Is Prime Minister Liz Truss?
Truss was born on July 26, 1975, in Oxford to a Latin teacher at Bolton School and an emeritus professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds. She married Hugh O'Leary in 2000 and they have two daughters.
In the Roundhay area of Leeds, Truss attended Roundhay School. She obtained her degree in 1996 after studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Merton College in Oxford.
She began her career in 1999 as a Chartered Management Accountant. Later, she worked with Cable & Wireless, where she attained the position of economic director until leaving in 2005. She then ran in two elections but lost, after which she was appointed as Reform's deputy director on a full-time basis in January 2008.
Truss presided over the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association from 1998 to 2000. Then. She was elected in the 2006 Greenwich London Borough Council election to serve as a councillor for Eltham South.
On May 6, 2010, she was appointed to the House of Commons. On September 4, 2012, Truss was appointed as the Department of Education's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
Truss replaced Owen Paterson as Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs on July 15, 2014, following a cabinet shuffle.
According to reports, in Theresa May's first ministry, she was appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in 2016. With this, she became the first woman to hold either position or serve as Lord Chancellor in the office's 900-year history.
Reportedly, on July 11th, Truss was raised to the position of Chief Secretary of the Treasury following the 2017 general elections in the United Kingdom. Truss only declared in 2019 that she could contest for the Conservative Party leadership to succeed May, but she endorsed Boris Johnson.
She was given the position of Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade in exchange for her endorsement of Boris Johnson. Truss was also named Minister for Women and Equalities after Amber Rudd resigned from the Boris Johnson government.
Johnson promoted Truss from the position of Secretary of International Trade to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs during the 2021 Cabinet reshuffle. She succeeded Margaret Beckett as the second woman to hold the position.
On July 10, 2022, Truss declared her intention to contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party as several controversies followed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ultimately led to his resignation.
According to reports, when running for office, she pledged to slash taxes right away and combat the nation's soaring inflation. The majority of the ruling Conservative Party who have backed her during her campaign have been particularly interested in her views on free trade.
Suggested Reading: Liz Truss Elected United Kingdom’s 56th prime minister, Defeating Rishi Sunak
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