After the ruling Conservative Party announced on Monday that Liz Truss would take Boris Johnson’s place as prime minister, she will become the third female prime minister in British history.
Truss, 47, has presented herself as Margaret Thatcher’s political heir, Britain’s tenacious advocate for free markets and low taxes, a staunch defender of the Anglo-American alliance, and a force that was instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War. Johnson, an architect of Britain’s exit from the European Union (known as Brexit), held the role for just over three years before resigning amid scandals over breaking his own coronavirus lockdown rules.
Liz Truss, who is she?
Truss is renowned for being a political chameleon and has had many different ideologies throughout her life. Truss, who was raised in an Oxford left-wing family, frequently accompanied her mother to protests in support of nuclear disarmament and in opposition to Thatcher’s Conservative administration, which introduced significant economic reforms centered on free markets, privatization, and a small state. She oversaw the student organization for the centrist Liberal Democrats while a student at Oxford University and promoted the overthrow of the monarchy. Later, she shifted her support to the Conservative Party, a change she credited to growing up. (On the campaign trail, Truss told Conservative voters, “We all had teenage misadventures.
“Some people indulged in rock ‘n’ roll, drugs, and sex. The Liberal Democrats were mine.
The information that Truss had an affair with a Conservative lawmaker 10 years older than her in the early 2000s put her parliamentary aspirations in jeopardy. However, she was chosen as a Member of Parliament in 2010 and advanced in the Tory party. As environmental secretary in David Cameron’s administration in 2014, Truss became the youngest female cabinet minister in the nation. She later went on to work in Theresa May’s and Johnson’s administrations.
Truss became a vocal supporter of the U.K. remaining in the E.U. during the 2016 Brexit referendum, just six years into her time as a Conservative lawmaker. She referred to Brexit as a “triple tragedy” supported by those “living in cloud cuckoo land.”
Six years later, Truss is an ardent Brexit supporter and the face of the nation’s Thatcherite, Euroskeptic right, a stance that made her the obvious favorite of the Conservative Party faithful. She calls herself “relentless,” which may help to explain why she has advanced so quickly in the Conservative ranks. Being one of the few ministers who did not resign during the fall of Johnson’s scandal-riddled premiership, she is also regarded as being fiercely loyal. However, to her detractors, she is a political opportunist—someone who can quickly and completely change her position to suit her current needs.
To what extent does she resemble Boris Johnson?
Gavin Barwell, a former Conservative minister and Theresa May’s former chief of staff, claims that Truss is “broadly continuity Johnson” based on everything she has said during the campaign. Truss follows her predecessor’s lead in terms of foreign policy, particularly when it comes to backing Ukraine. Truss supports tax cuts in economic policy, but his views on some issues—particularly social spending, where Johnson had defied his party’s views on limited government—are perhaps much more divergent.
Similar to Johnson, Truss is renowned for having a somewhat silly public persona, best exemplified by her widely-shared speech on British pork markets. But it’s still unclear whether she’ll be able to match Johnson’s appeal, particularly among conservative activists. Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London and the leader of a study looking at the membership of the U.K.’s major political parties, asserts that “very few people could match Boris Johnson’s charismatic appeal.” Liz Truss can’t, for sure.
Whether Truss decides to carry on Johnson’s legacy of undermining British political norms and conventions will likely be the most significant point of commonality. The delicate post-Brexit trading arrangements on the island of Ireland, which is divided by Northern Ireland, which is a part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland, which is a member state of the E.U., have come under threat as a result of legislation introduced by Truss earlier this year. Despite worries that it might violate international law, Truss promised as a candidate to enact legislation that will unilaterally end checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
For claiming that “the jury’s out” on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is a friend or foe of the U.K., Truss received additional criticism while running for office. Macron reiterated that the United Kingdom is a friendly country, “regardless, and sometimes despite, its leaders,” in a response that seemed exasperated.
According to Peter Ricketts, a former British diplomat who was the country’s ambassador to France, “That reflected her real gut feeling about dealing with the Europeans.” “I think the situation with the Europeans will be even more difficult than it was under Johnson.”
The White House will be a crucial relationship to follow. According to reports, compared to previous prime ministers, Truss has shown less enthusiasm for the so-called “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K.
Stewart McDonald, an SNP lawmaker, believes that Truss’s administration “will still be voter repellent to most people in Scotland,” just as Johnson’s administration was.
Beyond these crises, Truss also needs to focus on bringing her party back together after a bruising leadership campaign. Making peace with her formal leadership rivals, some of whom are expected to land prestigious positions in her cabinet, may not present too much of a challenge, but it might be more difficult if her predecessor decides to take on a more prominent role in matters. Johnson will resume his position as a rank-and-file MP in parliament, similar to other former prime ministers. But the backbenches might not be Johnson’s biggest threat to Truss.
Given the type of person he is, “I suspect he’ll go back to writing a regular newspaper column, and that will always be newsworthy,” says Barwell. And the Prime Minister will find that to be very difficult.
Will Truss endure?
The following general election in the United Kingdom isn’t scheduled to occur until late 2024 or early 2025. Though it would be extremely unusual given the Conservative Party’s sizable majority in parliament and the opposition Labour Party’s sizable lead in the polls, Truss could technically call for a snap election before then. Truss won’t necessarily make it to the next election, though, as the Tories have a history of ousting leaders. “She could prove to be the last in this line of Conservative prime ministers,” says Ricketts. “She’s the fourth in six years. That’s a pretty fast turnover for British politics.”