Liz Truss: Five Things You Need To Know About The New UK Prime Minister

The position of the Prime Minister for the United Kingdom hops into the hands of Liz Truss on Monay after she won the tickets of the Conservatives party.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is to succeed where Boris Johnson.

The incoming PM beat off competition from Rishi Sunak on Monday to emerge as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Truss is 47 years old, and has been an MP for 12 years and a Cabinet minister for eight, serving under three prime ministers.

She starts work as Johnson exits the stage.

Below are five things you should know about the new PM.

1. Personal life

Truss is married to accountant Hugh O’Leary, with whom she has two daughters.

The incoming U.K. leader was born in Oxford to John Kenneth and Priscilla Mary Truss.

Her father is an emeritus professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds, while her mother was a nurse, teacher and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Truss grew up in Scotland and then Leeds, in the north of England.

She also had a spell in Canada before belatedly settling into Westminster bagging a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.

2. Educational background

Truss attended Merton College, Oxford, and was President of Oxford University Liberal Democrats.

In 1996, she graduated and joined the Conservative Party.

Truss was elected for South West Norfolk at the 2010 general election.

As a backbencher, she called for reform in several policy areas including childcare, mathematics education and the economy.

She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs and wrote or co-wrote a number of papers and books, including After the Coalition (2011) and Britannia Unchained (2012).

3. Politics

Truss is seen as a libertarian and loves low taxes and small states.

She has served as the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021 and Minister for Women and Equalities since 2019.

A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010.

She has served in various Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Truss is known for her economic libertarian views and her support for free trade.

She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, a pro–free market collection of parliamentarians arguing for a more entrepreneurial economy and fewer employment laws.

Truss described in a 2018 speech that she began developing her own political views early.

Despite being the child of left-wing parents, Truss grew up to be an admirer of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

4. Work before Politics

Before entering politics, Truss worked as an economist for energy company Shell and telecommunications firm Cable and Wireless. 

She also worked for a right-of-center think tank while becoming involved in Conservative politics and championing free market Thatcherite views.

She also served as a local councilor in London and ran unsuccessfully for Parliament twice before being elected to represent the eastern England seat of Southwest Norfolk in 2010.

5. Becoming the third UK female PM

After her emergence, Truss will be United Kingdom's third female Prime Minister.

She comes after Margaret Thatcher, who governed from 1979 to 1990, and Theresa May, who held office from 2016 to 2019.

During her acceptance speech, Truss said; “We all will deliver for our country and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative party, our brilliant members of parliament and peers, our fantastic councillors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country.

“Because my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver. And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative party in 2024.”