Liz Truss succeeds Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister after winning the primary

The United Kingdom already has a new head of government. The British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss(Oxford, 46 years old) was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday after the vote count of the 180,000 members of the Conservative Party gave her the title of new Tory leader.

Truss has imposed himself on his rank mate Rishi Sunak. She has obtained 81,326 votes for 60,399 from the former Secretary of the Treasury.

“It’s an honor,” said Truss at the beginning of his speech, in which he thanked his “dear outgoing leader”, his “friend” Boris Johnsondrawing applause from his gathered colleagues: “You carried out ‘Brexit’, you ended up with Jeremy Corbynyou started the vaccination campaign and stood up to Vladimir Putin“.

Truss has also had praise for his rival, Sunak, with whom he has shared “a very fought campaign” in which “the depth of talent that exists in the Conservative Party has been demonstrated.”

“I will govern as a conservative”

“I know that our beliefs – she continued – are those of the British people and that is why the citizens voted for us in 2019. As a leader I will fulfill what we promised to all voters in our great country. I have campaigned as a Conservative and as a Conservative I will govern. ( …) We will comply, we will comply and we will comply”, he concluded in the middle of an ovation.

This September 5, after a fluid but intense race to replace Johnson, Truss will receive the keys to number 10 Downing Street. All despite the fact that just a week ago, his popularity seemed to plummet after having stood up the national public network, the BBCalleging that he could not attend a previously arranged interview so as not to “waste time with his campaign.”

Having achieved his goal, Truss will not have it easy. With inflation reaching historical records, the price of energy skyrocketing (it has increased by 80%) and frequent water cuts due to drought, the new prime minister -the third woman in the country’s history- will have to face a complicated home scenario.

talk of brexit

At the same time, this graduate in Philosophy, Politics and Economics will have to deal with the external pressures of supporting Ukraine in the war (the United Kingdom has played a leading role in this regard) and the tense talks with Europe over Brexit.

Precisely, his position on the exit of the United Kingdom from the community bloc has become one of his main political assets. Although he voted against brexit in 2016, she is currently a strong supporter of the hard line of negotiations with Brussels.

She is, in fact, along with Johnson, the promoter of the law that unilaterally scraps the Northern Ireland Protocol and threatens to provoke a trade war between London and the European Union.

Without going any further, the Financial Times cites sources as saying that Truss is determined to activate Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol which allows either party to temporarily suspend the agreement and take “rebalancing measures” unilaterally.

The Iron Lady 2.0

His change of mind about the brexit it is nothing more than a reflection of his political career, full of abrupt changes of direction. The daughter of a Mathematics teacher and a nurse, both Labor members, Truss joined the Conservative Party in 1996.

Previously, during his student years, marked by leftist thinking, he participated in demonstrations against Margaret Thatcheraccording to the newspaper Guardian. Now, however, many consider her the “Iron Lady 2.0” for her tenacity and resilience.

[La crisis de Liz Truss: Londres podría gobernar las Islas Vírgenes tras la detención de su ‘premier’]

In 2010, he entered the House of Commons as a representative for the province of South West Norfolk. Since then he has held various positions. First in David Cameron’s cabinet, where she was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She later became the first woman to hold the title of Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor under Theresa May.

When she resigned, Truss supported Johnson, who first gave her the Secretary of State for International Trade and later the Foreign Affairs portfolio, where she has served as minister to date.