Liz Truss Defeats Rishi Sunak To Be New UK PM

Liz Truss has defeated Rishi Sunak to be the new Prime Minister of Britain.

The result was announced at 12:30 pm after foreign minister Truss and her rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, spent the summer rallying support among the Conservative Party members who cast the final vote.

Long the front-runner in the race to replace Johnson, Truss, if appointed, will become the Conservatives’ fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1 per cent in July.

The 47-year-old has consistently been ahead of 42-year-old Mr Sunak in polling among the estimated 200,000 Tory members eligible to vote.

Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and he will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. His successor will follow him and be asked to form a government.