The United Kingdom will, today, Monday, learn who will be its next Prime Minister to succeed Boris Johnson who was forced to step down as a result of breaking COVID-19 protocols and other controversial incidents involving some of his cabinet ministers.
The result will be announced at 5pm (London Time) after foreign minister Truss and her rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, spent the summer rallying support among the Conservative Party members who cast the final vote.
The new PM will take power on Tuesday with the famous ‘kissing’ of Queen Elizabeth II’s hand after the outgoing and incoming premiers would have met the monarch at Balmoral.
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The fierce contest which will unveil Johnson’s successor has been between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.
If she wins, Truss will become the UK’s third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher.
The 47-year-old has consistently been ahead of 42-year-old Sunak in polling among the estimated 200,000 Tory members eligible to vote.
The leadership contest began in July after Johnson announced his resignation following a slew of scandals and resignations from his government.
Postal and online voting closed Friday after eight weeks of campaigning that Truss described to the BBC as “the longest job interview in history”.
The vote may not reflect general public opinion, however.
Forty-three percent said they did not trust her “at all” to deal with the burning issue of the rise in the cost of living.
Whoever emerges as winner faces “the worst in-tray for a new prime minister since Thatcher”, The Sunday Times wrote.
The UK is gripped by its worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, with inflation soaring into double digits and energy prices shooting up on the back of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Millions say that with bills set to rise by 80 percent from October — and even higher from January — they face a painful choice between eating and heating this winter, according to surveys.
“If I’m elected prime minister, I will act immediately on bills and on energy supply,” Truss told the BBC on Sunday, while declining to give details. Within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the issue,” she added.
Truss has campaigned on a promise to slash taxes and prioritise economic growth, just as Britain is tipped to enter recession later this year.
Sunak has vowed further government support to help people pay their energy bills and said curbing inflation would be his priority, attacking Truss’s tax-slashing plans as reckless.
“Helping people with the cost of living and energy bills comes above everything else that I might like to do,” he told the BBC on Sunday.