September 5, 2022
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Liz Truss becomes new PM after beating out Rishi Sunak by more than 20,000 votes
What Liz Truss says in her speech:
Truss thanks the party for “organising one of the longest job interviews in history” as well as her supporters.
She paid tribute to the other Tory candidates, especially rival Rishi Sunak, saying the campaign was “hard-fought” and showed “the depth and breadth of talent” in the party.
Truss goes on to praise Boris Johnson, citing the success of the Covid vaccine and “crushing Jeremy Corbyn” as well as Brexit and standing up to Putin.
“You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle,” she says – but to a delayed applause and somewhat muted from the audience.
She goes on to say she has a plan to cut taxes and grow the UK economy.
On the rising energy bills she says she will “deliver” when it comes to crisis by not only dealing with bills but also the long term supply issues.
Liz Truss become the new Conservative Party leader and the UK’s new Prime Minister
Truss won with 81,326 votes compared to Sunak’s 60,339 votes. Sir Graham Brady says there was a turnout of 82.6%.
It wasn’t a clean win, in fact, it was a slim margin and the Sunak team did far better than what polls had predicted.
Conservative Party co-chair Andy Stephenson has taken the stage, ahead of the result in a few minutes’ time.
He is congratulating the party and candidates on a successful leadership race, including the multiple hustings where candidates made their pitch to the membership this summer.
Stephenson thanks members for taking on the “solemn duty” of electing a new PM and getting out the party’s message across the UK. – (BBC)
Sir Graham Brady is set to make the announcement just after 12:30 BST.
New PM to be announced: Timeline of events
Today the UK will know who the next leader of the Conservative party – and therefore prime minister has been elected.
The papers and polls have widely tipped Liz Truss to replace Boris Johnson, who is in his last full day as prime minister.
Tomorrow, Boris Johnson and the newly elected PM will travel to Scotland where they will be appointed by the Queen.
Here’s a timeline of the upcoming events and how to watch them.
- The result of a ballot of Tory members will be announced just after 12:30 BST at the QE2 conference centre in London
- The winner becomes prime minister on Tuesday when they will travel to meet the Queen at Balmoral in Scotland
What happens next?
Liz Truss will be privately told at 12:27 this afternoon that she has won the competition and Rishi Sunak will be told he has lost.
Around 10 minutes later, after a short speech from the Tory Party chairman Andrew Stephenson, the Chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady will publicly announce the result.
After the result, the public will hear a short speech from Truss. And then at 1pm “onboarding” begins in Downing Street, according to the BBC.
Liz Truss will be known as the prime minister-elect until Tuesday when she is appointed as PM.
Why are people so certain Truss has won?
The projections are based on polls and it’s widely considered Truss has been ahead in the polls for most of the race. There is still a chance (a small one) that the polls and opinions are wrong and Sunak could become PM.
Whoever does win will come under pressure to announce plans to tackle the rising energy costs and the cost of living crisis.
Truss is believed to be considering a freeze on energy bills, with reports suggesting her team is considering “a lot of measures” – an announcement could come as early as Thursday.
