The Tory faithful have voted Liz Truss to victory as the new British Prime Minister to replace the disgraced and now forlorn Boris Johnson.
Her victory was hardly a landslide. Truss picked up 57 per cent of the vote beating former Chancellor Rishi Sunak 81,326 to 60,399.
Her stats don’t compare well with recent former Tories standing for the office.
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Johnson grabbed 66 per cent of his vote in 2019, David Cameron did even better with 67 per cent in 2005, while even dour Iain Duncan Smith cruised in to Number 10 with a 60 per cent cushion in 2001.
In a short speech lacking substance, Truss pledged to deliver, deliver and deliver – but stopped short on explaining what exactly that would mean for cash-strapped voters facing the worst cost of living crisis for more than 50 years.
She did , however, thank RIshi Sunak for his hard fought leadership campaign.
Keys To The Door
Her win puts her in charge of the party leadership – the keys to No 10 come tomorrow after she and Boris Johnson head for Balmoral, Scotland, to meet with the Queen.
Then, Johnson will officially resign as PM and the Queen will invite Truss to form a government.
So far, Truss has not dropped any hints about who might join her Cabinet. It’s not known if she will find a place for her rival Sunak or if he would accept such an arrangement.
Truss has pledged to follow through on her promises to voters.
She claims to have a ‘bold plan’ to cut taxes and reinvigorate the economy. However, many critics claim her proposals are likely to fuel the crisis rather than dampen inflation.
Energy And Inflation Pledges
Referring to energy bills, she promises to sort out the mess of ever-rising bills and long-term energy security issues. Johnson’s legacy might help her as he has announced a parting gift of £1.7 billion to kick-start a new nuclear age.
“Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin,” she said.
She promised to “govern as a Conservative” by delivering a “bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy”.
“I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply,” she added.
But what now for Johnson?
Does Johnson Have A Future?
Just eight weeks after 60 Cabinet resignations forced Johnson to give up the ghost as PM and party leader, the former Mayor of London and PM will return to the back benches to carry on as an MP to reflect on his time at the top. He is likely to settle in front of his keyboard to pen his version of events and to make a return to his first love – journalism.
Johnson has published eight books, including a best-selling biography of Winston Churchill, and a political satire Seventy-Two Virgins.
Liz Truss has laways had a flexible view of politics.
She started her career as a LIberal Democrat who joined protests against then PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
Along the road to No 10 she has switched loyalties several times in what has been to date a less than scintillating Westminster career. Although she may have stood on shifting sands, her policies to cut taxes and shrink the civil service won much support from the grassroots party that eventually carried her to triumph over Sunak.
Market Reaction
Born in Oxford in 1975, Truss is a 47-year-old mother of two daughters and married to accountant Hugb O’Leary.
Her politcal career includes stints as Justice Secretary and roles involving trade and business.
Markets reactes mildly to Truss taking over the reins at Westminster.
Research looking at how the FTSE responded to a change of prime minster mid-term shows the switch has little effect on investors or markets.
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Photo from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Truss