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.
