Liz Truss announced as new UK Prime Minister

Liz Truss is the new prime minister of the UK.

The 47-year-old defeated Rishi Sunak in the vote to succeed Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party and the country.

The chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady announced the winner at a press conference this afternoon.

Speaking following the result, Truss, who is the third female prime minister in the country's history, said she was proud of the contest and thanked the 'outgoing leader and my friend, Boris Johnson'.

She praised him for 'crushing Jeremy Corbyn' and 'standing up to Vladimir Putin', saying he was 'admired from Kyiv to Carlisle'.

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."

BBC

Congratulating Truss on her victory, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "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."

Truss was the favourite to win the contest, with many putting her well ahead of her rival in the race to No.10 from the start.

But despite her popularity among the small number of Tory members, some have already criticised the new PM for her lack of ideas on how to deal with the growing cost of living crisis.

She is yet to reveal any concrete plans for helping the millions of people across the country who are struggling to make ends meet.

For example, the energy cap is set to rise to a record £3,549 from 1 October, with Truss suggesting that she may potentially pull back the 1.25 percent National Insurance rise Sunak introduced as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Even this, critics say, would only generate around £59 to someone on the national minimum wage.

Ian Davidson/Alamy

In case you've forgotten quite how we got to this point, why don't we have a recap?

Johnson was booted out of Downing Street after a series of scandals led to dozens of his MPs - 57 of them to be exact - resigning from the government.

The 58-year-old's resignation came after it was revealed that he was in fact aware of allegations of impropriety made against Conservative MP Chris Pincher back in 2019. 

Pincher, who Johnson promoted to the role of deputy chief whip earlier this year, resigned after he was accused of groping two men at a club in London.

On 4 July, it emerged that he had previously been investigated over similar conduct.

At first, Johnson denied knowing about the claims. However, a spokesperson later confirmed that Johnson had been briefed about the complaint three years ago.

amanda rose/Alamy

Johnson later apologised for appointing Pincher, saying it 'was a mistake', and admitted that it was 'in hindsight the wrong thing to do'.

He said: "The complaint was cleared up, he apologised. It was raised with me, I was briefed on what had happened and if I had my time again I'd think back on it and I'd realise he wasn't going to learn a lesson and he wasn't going to change."

Pincher was removed from the Conservative Party as a result of his behaviour and now stands as an Independent MP.