Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss take part in the final Conservative leadership election debate in London on August 31. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The beginning
Mary Elizabeth Truss was born in Oxford, England, in 1975, making her 47 years old. According to Sky News, her mother worked as a nurse and her father was a maths lecturer. Truss has described her parents as very liberal, calling them “to the left of Labour”. While she was still young, her family moved to Leeds, a less affluent city in northern England. Unlike Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who, like many of his predecessors, attended the elite private school Eton College, Truss attended state schools in England and Scotland.
Liberal Democrat
As a student at Oxford University, Truss was a member of the Liberal Democrats and headed the party’s affiliated university union. She even campaigned against the monarchy, as seen in a video clip filmed in 1994. Two years later, after graduating, she left to join the Conservative Party.
Life in politics
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Elizabeth Truss arrives at the Houses of Parliament on March 28, 2019, in London. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Truss would spend 10 years in the telecommunications industry before turning to politics. She was first elected in 2006 as a councilor in the London Borough of Greenwich and became the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk in 2010. However, before she could stand, members of the local union tried to withdraw her candidacy after learning that she had allegedly she had an affair with a married Tory MP, Mark Field. She was given her first junior post two years later when she was appointed secretary of state in the Ministry of Education. In 2014, Tras was appointed to a senior position, head of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The story continues Truss backed former Prime Minister David Cameron on the side of remaining in the EU in what became known as ‘Brexit’. When Theresa May took over from Cameron as leader, Truss was chosen as justice secretary and later became the first woman in 1,000 years to hold the position of Lord Chancellor, the country’s top economic office. In 2019, as international trade secretary, Truss struck deals with New Zealand, Australia and Japan in a bid to move Britain into the post-EU era. Last September, Truss took over as foreign secretary in a cabinet reshuffle by Johnson. The then foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, came under intense scrutiny for his handling of Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Raab was vacationing in Greece when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and asked a deputy to handle an emergency call about evacuating Afghan interpreters. However, the call was never made, leaving Johnson with no choice but to replace Raab. Truss is now one of the longest serving Conservative Cabinet ministers in Parliament.
“Liz for the Leader”
Liz Truss launches her campaign to become Prime Minister on July 14 in London. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) On July 7, hours after Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister, Truss interrupted her participation in a G-20 event in Indonesia and announced her candidacy for the leadership race. At home, Truss promised to cut taxes immediately, as well as “keep corporation tax competitive”. He has also vowed to “unlock the huge opportunities of Brexit, with bold reforms”. As Foreign Secretary dealing with Brexit, Truss has courted controversy over her tough stance. A European Union official told inews on Thursday that the EU would refuse to negotiate any changes to the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland if Tras goes ahead with a move it proposed in June, for legislation now going through Parliament. to give ministers the power to suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Protocol, which Johnson concluded with the EU, was intended to protect the Union’s single market while avoiding what would be called a “hard border” or physical border in Northern Ireland. Truss also said that if appointed prime minister, she would for the first time declare China an official threat. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, she has stood firm against the Kremlin’s war. In July, he told the BBC that “all of Ukraine that has been invaded by Russia is illegally occupied.” President Ignazio Cassis of Switzerland meets British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano on July 4. (Michael Buholzer/AFP via Getty Images) Last week, Truss sparked tensions after saying the jury is out on whether France is Britain’s friend or foe. President Emmanuel Macron of France responded that it was “a problem” if the UK was not willing to call itself a friend. As for the UK’s relationship with the US, the Financial Times reported earlier this week that Truss had questioned the alliance, which has prevailed since World War II. Others doubt he will maintain that stance. “The relationship between the UK and the US is extremely important. It’s much, much bigger than any single figure, including Liz Truss,” David Lawrence, research fellow at the UK in the World Initiative at Chatham House, told Yahoo News. “I suspect that like every British prime minister before her, she will be incredibly keen to cultivate a good, close relationship.” If elected, Truss will become the third woman to become UK prime minister, following in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Around 160,000 Conservative Party members will vote for either Truss or Rishi Sunak. Voting will continue until Friday night and the ballots will be tallied over the weekend. Britain’s next prime minister, who will be sworn in by Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday, will be announced by Monday afternoon. Liz Truss’ leadership team has been contacted for comment.
