Liz Truss was duly voted to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, bringing an end to the protracted process.
The party officer in charge of the Conservative leadership elections and challenges, Sir Graham Brady, disclosed to members that Liz Truss defeated Rishi Sunak in the campaign to succeed Boris Johnson.
Voting restricted to Conservative Party members who paid their dues
Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Truss, as prime minister, will now take office because the United Kingdom operates under a parliamentary system, rather than a presidential one.
Truss wins 50% of the party’s vote
Right now, the government is already working to renegotiate the poor Brexit agreement that Johnson endorsed.
The worst, however, was yet to come with the coronavirus era, to which the Boris government responded by initially doing absolutely nothing.
While many people seemed to relish being forced into significant behavioral changes by the state, Johnson’s leadership would eventually come to an end, due to the continuously evolving web of laws and regulations that grew more complicated and byzantine every day.
Johnson’s credibility was shattered when he was found in violation of the lockdown regulations he helped establish, enforce, and fervently promoted on television every day.
I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.
Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country.
I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential. pic.twitter.com/xCGGTJzjqb
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 5, 2022
Two months ago, that happened.
The Conservatives lurched into a protracted leadership search, rather than swiftly replacing Johnson. Even the people in charge of organizing this would likely now concede it has gone on far too long and may have further harmed the party in the public eye.
The process began with daily knockout rounds in which only MPs were permitted to cast ballots. This reduced the initial field of 12 contenders to two, Truss and Sunak.
It also ensured any candidates who suggested a significant departure from the Johnson era were disqualified. Ironically, the Conservative Party decided it wanted more of the same after getting rid of Johnson.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign.
I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family.
It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) September 5, 2022
The vote was then opened to the larger voting public after the party insider phase was completed.
Truss now has a limited amount of time to have an impact on her government and win over the larger voting public.
With less than two years until the upcoming British general election, it seems almost probable the nation will soon experience devastating energy deficiencies and inflation.
Truss insists she has a strategy to counteract these threats. Whether she is successful in doing so will likely determine whether her party secures a historic victory in the 2024 elections or transfers power to Labor’s left-wing faction.
Around 180,000 people nationwide are members of the party. Since the beginning, polls have favored Truss over Sunak, who was the preferred choice of the MPs.
Due to the lengthy polling period, both candidates have slowed their campaigning against one another, likely to allay public perceptions of Conservative infighting.
This article appeared in Conservative Cardinal and has been published here with permission.
