UK’s Conservatives Choose a New Prime Minister

London, England —(Map)

On Monday, Britain’s Conservative Party  announced that its members had elected Elizabeth (Liz) Truss as the party’s new leader. That means Ms. Truss will become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK).   She’ll replace Boris Johnson, who stepped down in July.

Ms. Truss will become the UK’s third female prime minister. She’s been a member of Parliament  since 2010, and over the last 10 years, she has served in several Cabinet positions. Most recently, she was the UK’s foreign secretary – the person in charge of handling relationships between the UK and other countries.

Mr. Johnson, with his promise to “get Brexit done”, was largely responsible for the Conservatives’ big win in the 2019 election. But for much of this year, he has been heavily criticized for many of his actions. Finally, the pressure from Mr. Johnson’s own party and Cabinet became too great. On July 7, he announced that he was stepping down. But he has continued to act as prime minister, until there was someone to replace him.

Since Mr. Johnson didn’t call for new elections, the Conservatives had the opportunity to choose a new leader. Roughly 142,000 Conservative Party members were allowed to vote. Though they were mainly choosing the leader of their party, at the same time, they were also choosing the new leader of the UK. That’s a lot of power for a group that represents less than half of 1% of the UK’s voters.

Mr. Johnson, with his promise to “get Brexit done”, was largely responsible for the Conservatives’ big win in the 2019 election. But this year, he was heavily criticized for many of his actions. On July 7, he announced that he was stepping down (above).

For the last seven weeks, Ms. Truss has been working to persuade Conservative Party members to vote for her. Her main opponent, Rishi Sunak, has been doing the same. The results were announced on Monday. Ms. Truss won about 57% of the vote. Mr. Sunak earned about 43%.

As prime minister, Ms. Truss will face a challenging situation. The UK is having problems in many different areas. Prices have been climbing rapidly, making life hard for ordinary people. Many different groups of workers are upset, and are thinking about going on strike.

For the last seven weeks, Ms. Truss (right) and her main opponent, Rishi Sunak (left), have been working to win the votes of Conservative Party members. The results were announced on Monday (above). Ms. Truss won about 57% of the vote. Mr. Sunak earned about 43%.

Energy costs are rising especially quickly, which could become a real problem. Energy costs affect all sorts of other prices, and this will only get worse as the weather gets colder.

The UK also face challenges in its relationships with other countries. Ms. Truss has said that she will break an agreement the UK signed with the EU as part of its Brexit deal. If Ms. Truss follows through on that threat, it could cause real problems between the UK and the EU.

Ms. Truss has promised to take on all of these challenges. “We will deliver,” she says. Ms. Truss says she can fight rising prices while also cutting taxes.

In a speech after she was elected (above), Ms. Truss promised to take on the challenges facing the UK. “We will deliver,” she said. Ms. Truss says she can fight rising prices while also cutting taxes.

But Ms. Truss also faces challenges inside her own party. The Conservative Party is still very divided, and she may have trouble finding support for her ideas.

Ms. Truss and Mr. Johnson will travel to Scotland on Tuesday to meet with Queen Elizabeth II. During the meeting, Mr. Johnson will officially step down, and Ms. Truss will be appointed prime minister.