Liz Truss became justice minister in July 2016 under Theresa May (Picture: PA)
Liz Truss resigned just 24 hours after insisting: ‘I’m a fighter, not a quitter.’
But the prime minister’s many U-turns while in office mirrored a habit of changing her mind long before she was handed the keys to No.10.
After growing up in a left-wing household, where her parents took her on protest marches in favour of nuclear disarmament and against Margaret Thatcher, she became an active Liberal Democrat in her youth.
She delivered a speech at their 1994 conference, after being elected president of the party’s student wing at Oxford university, in which she called for the abolition of the monarchy.
Ms Truss told delegates in Brighton: ‘We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all. We do not believe people are born to rule.’
The young liberal reportedly campaigned for the decriminalisation of cannabis – but by 1997 she was attending the Conservative Party conference where she met her future husband Hugh O’Leary.
They married in 2000 and had two daughters. Ms Truss then unsuccessfully stood as the Tory candidate for Hemsworth in Yorkshire in the 2001 general election.
Liz Truss resigns: What happens next?
Liz Truss has stepped down as Conservative Party leader and UK Prime Minister after just 44 days. So what happens next?
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– Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to go head to head
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Read the latest Liz Truss news on Metro.co.uk’s dedicated page.
In 2004, she performed a U-turn on her wedding vows by embarking on an affair with married Tory MP Mark Field, while working for him.
The shadow minister’s marriage ended in divorce but Ms Truss’s husband stood by her. News of the affair was not made public until 2006 – and in the meantime she stood as an MP in Calder Valley, Yorkshire, in 2005, but again lost.
At Oxford University in 1994 (Picture: David Hartley)
Controversy over the relationship almost ended her political career but she survived a threat to deselect her candidacy in the safe seat of South West Norfolk and became an MP in 2010. Ms Truss went on to abandon any sporting loyalty to her roots – after growing up in Oxford, Paisley and Leeds – by becoming a Norwich City FC fan.
Her big break came under the coalition government, when she was appointed an education minister in 2012 and promoted to environment secretary in 2014.
With Therese Coffey, who was her deputy PM (Picture: Tim Stewart)
That year she gave a famously passionate speech at the Conservative Party conference, in which she declared: ‘We import two-thirds of our cheese. That. Is. A. Disgrace.’
Two years later she campaigned for Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum and warned leaving the EU would be a ‘tragedy’ for the UK. But after Leave won she swiftly became an enthusiastic Brexit backer. She was made a justice minister by then-PM Theresa May before moving to the treasury and becoming trade secretary in July 2019.
With Boris Johnson in 2019 (Picture: Ben Cawthra/REX/Shutterstock)
Shortly after being announced as Britain’s new prime minister last month (Picture: Reuters/Phil Noble)
After a stint as equalities minister, she replaced Dominic Raab as foreign secretary in September 2021 following criticism of his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
She caused controversy in March this year by saying she ‘absolutely’ supported Britons travelling to Ukraine to fight against Russia, but later claimed: ‘I’ve been very clear the travel advice from the UK is not to go to Ukraine.’
After Boris Johnson quit as PM, Ms Truss won over Tory members to be elected leader in September.
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Before leaving a month later.