New Delhi: Liz Truss has emerged as the favourite over Indian-origin Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and UK Prime Minister.
If appointed PM, the British Foreign Minister said on Sunday that her immediate priorities would be tackling rising energy bills and boosting energy supplies.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on the eve of announcement of the new PM, Truss pledged bold steps to rescue Britain’s economy roiled by double-digit inflation and recession.
“If elected, I plan within the first week of my new administration to set out our immediate action on energy bills and energy supply,” she wrote.
Saying that her approach would be two-fold to tackle high cost of living and ensure economic growth, she wrote, “We need to take the difficult decisions to ensure we are not in this position every autumn and winter. Sticking plasters and kicking the can down the road will not do. I am ready to take the tough decisions to rebuild our economy.”
Born in Oxford in 1975, Mary Elizabeth Truss’s father was a mathematics professor and her mother a nurse. The family moved to Paisley when she was four years old. They later moved to Leeds, where she attended Roundhay, according to a BBC report.
After schooling, she enrolled at Oxford University, where she read philosophy, politics and economics and was active in student politics. At Oxford, she switched to the Conservatives.
After graduating, she worked as an accountant for Shell, and Cable & Wireless. Married to fellow accountant Hugh O’Leary in 2000, they have two children.
She is the co-author of Britannia Unchained, which she wrote with four other Conservative MPs elected in 2010, recommending less state regulation and supporting free market policies.
In 2012, already an MP, she became Education Minister and in 2014 became the Environment Secretary.
Initially taking a stand against Brexit, she later made a U-turn.
Under Theresa May, she was Justice Secretary before becoming Chief Secretary to the Treasury. When Johnson became PM in 2019, she was made International Trade Secretary. In 2021, she took over from Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary.
Truss supported UK citizens keen to fight Russians in Ukraine. She said Ukrainians were fighting for freedom, “not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe”.
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