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Liz Truss, with aims to be “Iron Lady” is Britain’s new prime minister

AsiaLiz Truss, with aims to be "Iron Lady" is Britain’s new prime minister

Liz Truss is Britain’s next prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest.

Liz Truss played the rule of Thatcher in school and now she is on the way to becoming prime minister for real. She has even forged her image in homage to the Iron Lady; some call her the “new Iron Lady”.

She has posed in a British Army tank in Eastern Europe, prompting an image of Thatcher during the Cold War. In a televised leadership debate this week, Britain’s top diplomat wore a blouse bizarrely similar to one Margaret Thatcher used to wear, reports the Associated Press.

Liz Truss is the daughter of a left-leaning math professor and a nurse.  She reportedly revolted against her parents to become Conservative. As a child, she went to anti-nuclear and anti-Thatcher protests, where she remembered shouting. “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie — out, out out!”

She beat her rival and former finance minister by 81,326 votes to 60,399 after a leadership bid that was triggered by Boris Johnson’s resignation in July.

“I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party. Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country,” she tweeted after her win.”

The 47-year-old will be only the UK’s third woman prime minister after Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher.

Her Life and Rise

Born in Oxford, Truss spent her childhood in Scotland’s Paisley and then Leeds in northern England. She went to Oxford University, where she studied philosophy, politics, and economics. Active in student politics, she was first a supporter of the Liberal Democrats before switching to the Conservative Party and now calls herself a Tory loyalist.

She worked as an accountant first but politics was her calling. After failing to make a mark in the 2001 and 2005 general elections, she was elected as a councillor in south-east London’s Greenwich in 2006. She worked as the deputy director of the right-of-centre Reform think tank, reports BBC.

After almost a decade of attempting to make it to Westminister, she was elected a member of Parliament (MP) from South West Norfolk in 2010.  Two years on, she entered government as an education minister and was promoted by then PM David Cameron to environment secretary in 2014.

She was appointed justice secretary under Theresa May in 2016 and then went on to become chief secretary to the treasury, playing a crucial part in the government’s economic programme.

When Boris Johnson took over in 2019, Truss was appointed international trade secretary and last year, was elevated to the position of foreign secretary.
The Leadership Bid

Earlier while ridiculed for certain speeches such as her endeavour to promote pork in China and rant about the British not eating enough British cheese, Truss became a Tory favourite.

“I am putting myself forward because I can lead, deliver and make the tough decisions. I have a clear vision of where we need to be, and the experience and resolve to get us there,” she said in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, as she announced her leadership bid.

When her campaign was weakening during the early voting rounds, she promised tax cuts worth millions of pounds. She said that if she won, she would scrap a planned rise in corporation tax and suspend green energy levies, costing more than £20bn a year, reports Guardian.

Rishi Sunak versus Truss

Truss is a Conservative Party loyalist, who stood by Johnson even after a barrage of resignations followed after Sunak stepped down.

Some in the governing party accused Sunak of triggering the rebellion against Johnson and apprehension that the former finance minister cannot beat the opposition Labour Party in the next election, reports Reuters.

Truss’ combative approach — along with her promises to slash taxes and boost defence spending — made her the favourite of the party’s strongly Euroskeptic right wing.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at the Queen Mary University of London, had told the Associated Press that the fact that Euroskeptics adore Truss while suspecting Sunak of pro-EU views — despite him backing “leave” in the referendum — shows the importance of impression over substance in politics.

“His (Sunak’s) image doesn’t fit that of a Brexiteer whereas hers does,” Bale said in July.

“There’s a kind of presumption that if you’re a bit of a smoothie chops who moves easily in international circles you must be a reminder and if you’re someone who tells it like it is to Johnny Foreigner then you’re obviously a (true) Brexiteer.”

Hers Was No Landslide Victory

While Truss won, it was not the landslide that was being predicted, reports BBC.

After the Conservative Party changed its interior election rules to give members a final say, ahead of the 2001 leadership contest no leader has got less than 60 per cent votes. Truss secured 57 per cent of member votes, compared to Boris Johnson’s 66.4 per cent in 2019, David Cameron goy 67.6 per cent in 2005 and Iain Duncan Smith 60.7 per cent in 2001, according to the report.

Regardless, she will be Britain’s next prime with many challenges lying ahead of her, from the economy going into recession, Britain’s cost of living and the energy crisis, it is going to be a difficult road.  She would need to be a true Iron Lady like Thatcher to go along a tough road ahead of her with her narrow margin.

With inputs from Reuters, Associated Press, and BBC.

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