Liz Truss confirmed as the UK’s next Prime Minister

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was announced as the U.K.’s next prime minister, after narrowly defeating former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership race on Monday. Truss will now takeover from outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Truss is the 3rd female Prime Minister of the UK, following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher, both of whom also led the Conservative Party.

Truss, 47, said it had been an “honor to be elected,” and thanked her party for organizing “one of the longest job interviews in history.”

On Friday, approximately 160,000 members of the Conservative Party voted in the election to choose their new leader and the country’s new Prime Minister. After a weekend of counting ballots, Truss won with 81,326 votes, whilst Sunak received 60,399 votes.

Truss announced in her acceptance speech that she will deliver a new “bold plan” to cut taxes and deliver on the country’s energy crisis. “We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver,” she told a crowd of conservative party members at Westminster on Monday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated Truss on what he called her “decisive” win and said she had the “right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country. Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent.”

Rishi Sunak took to Twitter to congratulate Truss on her win: “Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign. I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family. It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.”

The leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, also congratulated Truss, while touting his own party. “I’d like to congratulate our next Prime Minister Liz Truss as she prepares for office. But 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. Only Labour can deliver the fresh start our country needs,” Starmer said.

Truss will officially become Prime Minister after Boris Johnson tenders his resignation to The Queen, who will then appoint Truss.