Liz Truss announced as Conservative party leader and next prime minister

Liz Truss has been announced as the Conservative party leader, making her the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Truss received 81,326 votes, while her opponent, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, received 60,399.

She will travel to Balmoral tomorrow (Tuesday September 6th) to meet with the Queen, where she will be officially appointed prime minister.

Addressing the Tories after the announcement, Truss said it was an ‘honour’ to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist party.

She described it as ‘one of the longest job interviews in history’.

Truss went on to pay tribute to Sunak, saying the contest showed the ‘depth and breadth’ of talent in the Conservative Party.

She also thanked ‘my friend’ Boris Johnson, saying: “Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin”.

Truss then said she will deliver a ‘bold plan’ to cut taxes and boost the British economy after the Covid pandemic.

She said to applause: “We all will deliver for our country, and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of our Conservative Party.

“We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver – and we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024”.

It comes after a six week battle between the leader front runners, both of whom fought to persuade Tory members that they are the right candidates to run the party – and the country – after Boris Johnson’s resignation in July.

Truss has promised to unveil her plan on how to deal with the ongoing energy crisis within the next week, though she is yet to give any details on what it entails for the millions of struggling households across the country.

She said previously: “If I’m elected as prime minister, within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the issue of energy bills and of long-term supply to put this country on the right footing for winter.”