Liz Truss wins race to be Britain’s new leader

We’re winding up our live coverage, after Liz Truss won the Conservative Party leadership election.

On Tuesday, Truss will formally become the UK’s new prime minister. Until then, you can read more CNN coverage of this story here.

New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Liz Truss smiles and waves as she arrives at Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest at an event in central London, on September 5.

Liz Truss, the next?prime minister of the United Kingdom, is a political chameleon who has gone from a radical who called for the abolition of the monarchy to a flag-bearer of the Euroskeptic right wing of the Conservative Party.

Truss, who was only elected to parliament in 2010, has – in a relatively short period of time – established herself as a political force of nature who pursues her agenda with relentless vigor and unequivocal enthusiasm.

But after a decades-long transformation that has seen her personal views change enormously, many will be asking what exactly Britain’s new leader stands for.

To say that Truss, 47, has been on a political journey would be an understatement. She was born in 1975 into a family that she herself has described as “to the left of Labour,” Britain’s main left-wing?party. She grew up in parts of the UK that didn’t traditionally vote Conservative, moving between Scotland and the north of England.

In contrast with her privately educated cabinet colleagues, Truss went to a state school in the Yorkshire city of Leeds, and later won a place at Oxford University. There she was an active member of the Liberal Democrats, a centrist opposition party that has long been an effective opponent to the Conservatives in large parts of England.

During her time as a Liberal Democrat, Truss supported the legalization of cannabis and the abolition of the?royal family?– positions that are at total odds with what most would consider to be mainstream Conservatism in 2022.

“I honestly think she was playing to the gallery back then, whether she was talking about decriminalizing drugs or abolishing the monarchy,” Neil Fawcett, a Liberal Democrat councilor who campaigned with Truss in the 1990s, told CNN. “I think she is someone who plays to the gallery with whatever audience she is talking to, and I genuinely don’t know if she ever believes anything she says, then or now.”

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New Conservative Party leader and Britain's Prime Minister-elect Liz Truss delivers a speech at an event to announce the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest in central London on September 5, 2022. - Truss is the UK's third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. The 47-year-old has consistently enjoyed overwhelming support over 42-year-old Sunak in polling of the estimated 200,000 Tory members who were eligible to vote. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP) (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Liz Truss to succeed Boris Johnson as Britain's prime minister after winning Conservative Party leadership race

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media ahead of a Weimar Triangle meeting to discuss the ongoing Ukraine crisis on February 8, in Berlin, Germany.

During her campaign to claim the Conservative Party leadership, Liz Truss pushed to win the hearts of about 160,000 right-wing Brits.

And it was a task she leaned into, taking several opportunities to make slights towards political figures at the other end of the political spectrum — frequently to the cheers of her audiences.

But on Tuesday, Truss will become Britain’s prime minister and the newest G7 leader. And some of her comments on the campaign trail may make for awkward encounters.

Truss caused controversy when she said “the jury’s out” on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is a “friend or foe” to the United Kingdom. “If I become Prime Minister, I’ll judge him on deeds not words,” she added.

Britain and France have long been close allies on the world stage. Their relationship has been strained in recent years, particularly over the increase in migrants crossing the English Channel, but it was a remarkable move for an incoming British leader — and the sitting foreign secretary — to imply France might be a “foe” towards the UK.

It was a stir that Boris Johnson — hardly renowned for his own history of diplomacy — felt the need to clean up, telling reporters that Macron was a “tres bon buddy” of the UK and insisting that British-French relations have been “very good.”

Truss was less keen to comment on whether former US President Donald Trump was a friend or foe, saying at her final hustings event on Sunday that she wouldn’t discuss “future potential presidential runners.” At the same event, she said of China’s President Xi Jinping: “I am not going to use the word foe, but what I will say is I am concerned about China’s assertiveness,” according to PA Media.

The new British PM has also taken aim at the leaders of the UK’s nations, with whom she will be required to work on devolution and power-sharing agreements. She called Welsh First Minister Mark?Drakeford a “low-energy?version of Jeremy Corbyn,” the former Labour leader, during a hustings event last month — and said Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon is “an?attention seeker.”

Those comments could risk alienating voters in Scotland, where Sturgeon has pushed for an independence referendum, and Wales, where the Conservatives are battling to regain seats they won in the 2019 general election.

“Congratulations to Liz Truss. Our political differences are deep, but I will seek to build a good working relationship with her as I did with last 3 PMs,” Sturgeon wrote on Twitter after Truss’s win. “She must now freeze energy bills for people & businesses, deliver more cash support, and increase funding for public services.”

Following his loss in the final Conservative leadership ballot, former finance minister Rishi Sunak tweeted his support for Liz Truss, who will become the UK’s new prime minister on Tuesday.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated?Liz Truss after she won the Conservative Party leadership contest on Monday.

Johnson was forced to resign in July after months of controversy and was the first UK premier in history found to have?broken?the?law?in office during the so-called Partygate scandal.

He tweeted saying Truss has the right plans to tackle the cost of living crisis and unite Britain’s Tory party.?

Conservative MPs are acutely aware that Liz Truss needs to get on with tackling Britain’s cost-of-living crisis as soon as possible.

One even suggested that if she doesn’t, her premiership could “all come crashing down within 48 hours.”

The UK is currently experiencing double-digit inflation. At the same time, food and energy prices are increasing by thousands of pounds.

Truss has not specifically outlined what she is going to do to help ordinary citizens beyond offering tax cuts that barely scratch the surface.

Many MPs are concerned that Truss seems to not really understand the severity of the issue, and that if she doesn’t act fast enough, the public will make up its mind on Truss and the Conservative party before her government is even up and running.

Liz Truss has won the Conservative Party leadership contest, but she’ll have to wait until Tuesday to formally become prime minister.

Truss and outgoing leader Boris Johnson will travel to Balmoral in Scotland tomorrow in order to meet with Queen Elizabeth II, as per Britain’s unwritten constitution.

The Queen must formally approve the formation of a new government led by Truss. Normally, these meetings would take place quickly at Buckingham Palace, which is a short distance from 10 Downing Street, but the 96-year-old monarch will stay at her Scottish residence this time.

A royal source told CNN that decision was made to avoid last-minute alternative arrangements should the?Queen?experience any episodic mobility issues.

Once those formalities are finished, Truss will head back to London and arrive in Downing Street. She will announce her new Cabinet, which is likely to include many of her supporters during the contest.

Then, on Wednesday, Truss will face Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time.

Liz Truss speaks after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, on September 5.

Conservatives who supported both Liz Truss and her rival Rishi Sunak are privately admitting that Truss’s victory margin was smaller than expected.

It had been predicted by many that her margin of win would be larger than the 18 percentage points announced on Monday afternoon.

What could this mean for her leadership?

It could mean that she cannot run roughshod over her MPs. Truss could find that she has to accommodate a wider range of views from her party, which could mean embracing Sunak’s ideas for helping Britons with the cost-of-living crisis and a less aggressive approach to tax cuts – especially corporation tax.

Many Conservative MPs are privately very worried that Truss’s modern-day Thatcherism could cost them the next election and will be leaping on the surprisingly low margin of victory to encourage the next PM to soften her economic stance.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reacts to the new announcement of the new Conservative Party leader after a visit to Friern Barnet school in London on September 5.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has responded to Liz Truss’s election as the new Conservative leader.

“After 12 years of the Tories all we have to show for it is low wages, high prices, and a Tory cost of living crisis,” Starmer said.

He will face Truss in Parliament for the first time later this week, with his party currently topping the government in opinion polls.

Liz?Truss?speaks after being announced as Britain's next Prime Minister at The Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, Britain, on September 5.

Liz Truss ended her short maiden speech as Conservative leader by pledging to win the next general election — and repeatedly insisting that she will “deliver.”

“We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years,” she told the audience. “We all will deliver for our country, and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party.”

“And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024,” Truss added.?

But that could be a tall order. The Conservatives are lagging behind the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls, and are now on their fourth leader since 2016.

Truss does not have to wait until 2024 to push for an election, and Labour are likely to clamor for one sooner. But the growing economic crisis shows no signs of abating, and Truss will be judged early in her premiership by how well she can tackle it.

Liz?Truss?speaks after being announced as Britain's next Prime Minister at The Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, Britain, on September 5.

The incoming UK prime minister has promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes and said she will address spiralling energy prices that are driving a cost-of-living crisis in the country.

But Liz Truss offered no details of what either plan will involve; throughout her campaign, her critics, including opponent Rishi Sunak, have pushed her to detail her next steps, with households facing another spike in costs next month.

“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy,” Truss said. “I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills.”

New Conservative Party leader and Britain's Prime Minister-elect Liz Truss delivers a speech at an event to announce the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest in central London on September 5.

Liz Truss began her victory speech by congratulating her opponent, Rishi Sunak, who pushed her closer than many expected in the final ballot.

She then gave a hearty tribute to Boris Johnson, who she will replace as prime minister on Tuesday after months of scandals forced him to resign.

“Boris: you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine, and you stood up to Vladimir Putin,” Truss said. “You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.”

“I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people,” she told the crowd of Conservative members. “I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.”

New Conservative Party leader and Britain's Prime Minister-elect Liz Truss delivers a speech at an event to announce the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest in central London on September 5.

Liz Truss, who has served as Boris Johnson’s foreign secretary for the past year, won?57%?of the votes?of Conservative Party members to become its leader. Rishi Sunak took?43%.

It was a?closer than anticipated?victory for the longtime favorite, who was popular among party members but won the support of less than a third of her MPs earlier in the?leadership?contest.

Truss is giving a speech to the Conservative Party conference now; she becomes the party’s leader immediately, and will officially take over as?prime minister?on Tuesday after meeting?Queen?Elizabeth II.

WATCH: Liz Truss gives victory speech after winning Conservative Party leadership election

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04:52 - Source: CNN

Liz?Truss?speaks after being announced as Britain's next Prime Minister at The Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, Britain, on September 5.

Liz Truss?— a tax-cutting crusader who has modeled herself on Margaret Thatcher and endeared herself to the Conservative Party’s pro-Brexit right wing —?has won?its?leadership election and will take over from Boris Johnson tomorrow as the UK’s new leader.

WATCH: See the moment Liz Truss is announced new British prime minister

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01:16 - Source: CNN

The British pound dropped to its lowest level against the US dollar since 1985 on Monday, signaling further woes for the UK economy.

Early Monday morning the pound dropped 0.3% to $1.1443 according to MarketWatch. It follows similar falls for the euro as the continent faces a deepening energy crisis.

This signals one of the many challenges that Boris Johnson’s successor — the new UK prime minister — will face.

The next prime minister’s celebrations are likely to be brief.

That’s because the biggest issue in Britain today isn’t the identity of the PM, but a spiralling cost-of-living crisis.

Average annual energy bills alone are set to rise 80% to ￡3,549 (approximately $4,180) from October – threatening to overwhelm much of the country. Inflation rose above 10% in July for the first time in 40 years, driven largely by the soaring cost of energy, food and fuel amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Bank of England, inflation will soar to 13% by the end of the year. The central bank also predicted that the UK will enter recession before the end of the year.

As far as this affects the Conservative Party leadership contest, analysts are skeptical that either candidate’s policies will help. The Institute for Fiscal studies, an independent research group, last month said the leadership contestants, who both promise tax cuts and smaller government spending, “need to recognise this even greater-than-usual uncertainty in the public finances.”

On Sunday, speaking on a BBC political show, the contest’s clear frontrunner Truss refused to discuss her plans to tackle rising bills, but added, “what I want to reassure people is, I will act if elected as prime minister within one week.”

Rishi Sunak has consistently attacked Truss’s economic agenda, saying that her proposed tax cuts would push inflation even higher. And if Truss wins today, she’ll immediately face pressure to match the opposition Labour Party’s plan to freeze energy bills before a planned price hike in October.

Ex-Prime Minister?Boris?Johnson?speaks in the UK Parliament on December 8.

That’s the question?that?Westminster is desperate to learn the answer?to. Immediately, Boris Johnson will go from being?prime minister to an ordinary Conservative MP. It is most unlikely he will serve in either Sunak?or?Truss’s cabinet, given his unpopularity.?

He will probably return to his media career as a columnist, author and broadcaster in some way or another. He was a columnist at the Daily Telegraph for many years, both while serving as an elected politician and as a private citizen. His salary for?that?column was greater than his salary for serving as?prime minister.?

It is unknown whether or not Johnson wants to return to frontline politics or if he now wants to retreat, possibly even resigning as an MP, and live a quieter life. While that would be understandable, allies of Johnson believe that he is dissatisfied with how his time in power came to an end and feels that he has unfinished business.?

There may be hurdles to overcome if he wants to remain a force in British politics, though. If an ongoing parliamentary inquiry finds later this year that he deliberately misled parliament over Partygate, Johnson could face a recall election and lose his seat.

But looming over Truss or Sunak is the uncomfortable truth that the public hasn’t had any say yet in Johnson’s removal or the appointment of his successor. If things start going badly for the next prime minister, it would be theoretically possible for the Conservative Party to remove them and restore Johnson as its leader.

Lots of not very fun things. The most pressing issue is the cost-of-living crisis. Energy prices have soared by thousands of pounds, food costs are?spiraling?and real-term wages are falling. Small businesses that were saved by the government in the pandemic, especially in the hospitality industry, now face closure due to the escalation in prices.

Neither candidate has adequately answered how they intend to address these problems and the public are increasingly furious about it.??

On top of this economic crisis, there are also a bunch of problems that can loosely be described as Boris Johnson legacy issues.?

Johnson has been one of the most vocal and reliable allies to Ukraine since the Russian invasion?in February.

The new?leader will have to decide whether or not they will follow Johnson’s all-in approach as the rest of the West works out how to face the?next stage of the war, with the risk of?attracting unfavorable?comparisons with Johnson should they deviate from his resolute position.?

Then there’s Brexit, which, contrary to popular belief, is certainly not done. The situation in Northern Ireland remains unstable and British relations with their?European Union?counterparts are extremely poor.

The new PM will have to decide whether they intend to remain hardline on all matters Brexit and risk the consequences, or take a softer line, angering the Brexiteer base and, well, risk the consequences.?

Read more here: Boris Johnson is handing his successor an economic ‘catastrophe’

Audience members hold placards showing support for each candidate at a Conservative Party hustings on August 1, in Exeter, England.

In the?United Kingdom,?prime ministers?are not directly elected; rather, parties are elected at general elections via a parliamentary system where?local?constituencies elect a Member of Parliament.?

The leader of the party with the most MPs – and ideally an outright majority in the?650-seat Parliament?– will conventionally be asked to form a government by the Queen.?

If a sitting?prime minister?resigns, there is no need for another general election, so the governing party is able to simply elect a new leader.?

In the case of the Conservative Party, the?new leader is elected by?its?roughly 160,000 members. This electorate is generally speaking older, whiter and more?financially?comfortable than the rest of the country. They are typically in favor of low tax, small government spending and socially Conservative policies.?

This could be why the campaigns to replace Johnson?have?not fully addressed the cost-of-living crisis?looming over most people in the UK, focusing on lowering tax rather than what state spending might be required.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the nation as he announces his resignation outside 10 Downing Street in London, England, on July 7.

Boris Johnson resigned after his own party decided that?his?time was up at the start of July. Frustration at how Johnson handled a scandal in which his deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, was accused of sexually assaulting two men spilled over into anger. The?prime minister?was forced to resign after losing the support of?virtually all his lawmakers as well as dozens of ministers in his government.?

The Pincher scandal came after months of speculation that Johnson would need to?step down over the so-called Partygate scandal, which revealed?that?multiple illegal gatherings had taken place?at the heart of government?while?the rest of the country was living under strict lockdowns?during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Johnson himself was found to have broken the law as part of an investigation into this scandal.?

Liz Truss, left, or Rishi Sunak, will be announced as the Conservative Party's new leader on September 5.

The?United Kingdom?will today learn who will replace Boris Johnson as?its?prime minister.?

At?approximately 12:30 p.m. in London (7:30 a.m. ET),?the governing Conservative Party will announce the winner of its leadership contest.?

The?process?was triggered after Johnson resigned as?leader?on July 7 after months of scandals rendered his position untenable.?

He will be replaced by either Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer who resigned from Johnson’s?Cabinet in protest, or Liz Truss, the current foreign secretary.?

The winner will inherit a country living through the worst cost-of-living crisis in recent memory and a party bitterly divided following?Johnson’s?divisive premiership.?