FRANCE 24: She is only the third woman in history to become British prime minister, following in the footsteps of her Conservative predecessors Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Who is 47-year-old Liz Truss and how did she manage to overtake her rival Rishi Sunak in the race to succeed Boris Johnson? FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at the new occupant of 10 Downing Street.
With 57.4 percent of the vote in the Conservative Party leadership contest , Truss can savour a comfortable victory over ex-chancellor Sunak. The outgoing foreign secretary's success is all the more satisfying because her challenger was initially the bookmakers' favourite to be the next prime minister. Truss's triumph can be explained by some strategic moves on her part that have played to the party faithful, but also by mishaps in the leadership campaign of her rival.
When the scandal-plagued Johnson resigned as prime minister in July, Truss was by no means a shoo-in to replace him. She arguably received a boost when Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, seen as a likely frontrunner, announced he would not be standing. Once the field was whittled down to two candidates by Conservative MPs, Sunak was in the lead. The 42-year-old was seen as a political heavyweight who steered the British economy through the Covid-19 pandemic as finance minister. » | Caroline Clarkson | Monday, September 5, 2022
