Liz Truss Is Appointed U.K. Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth
FILE PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth welcomes Liz Truss during an audience where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government, at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, Britain September 6, 2022. Jane Barlow/Pool via REUTERS
After seeing the Queen at Balmoral and being invited to form a government following Boris Johnson’s resignation, Liz Truss has been appointed the new prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Truss, 47, is the third female prime minister in the history of the UK. At around 4 o’clock, she will deliver an address to the country before starting to assemble her cabinet. It is anticipated that she would return right away to Downing Street.
The unveiling of strategies to address the energy price situation is anticipated to be one of her first important acts as prime minister, with supporters reportedly talking of a £100 billion package to freeze costs.
Later on Tuesday, it is anticipated that important cabinet nominations would be made, with junior positions following over the next few days. Truss is anticipated to nominate a cabinet of supporters, including Suella Braverman as home secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, and James Cleverly as foreign secretary.
Thérèse Coffey is anticipated to be named health secretary, among other significant appointments, although Rishi Sunak, who lost the race for the leadership position, won’t have any involvement.
After a dispute over positions for other significant leadership competitors including Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, and Sajid Javid, several positions are still up for grabs. Senior sources claimed that positions in the fields of transportation, culture, education, and Northern Ireland were among those still to be assigned.
Before departing Balmoral a few minutes before noon, Johnson and his wife, Carrie, spent over 40 minutes with the Queen. Johnson had before made a suggestion that he hoped to return to active politics by drawing an analogy between himself and a Roman politician who was summoned back for one more war.
In remarks made outside Downing Street, the departing prime minister promised to assist Truss even after he left office. ““Let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.”
He declared that his only support for the next administration will be “the most fervent.”
However, he declared he was “returning to my plough” in a reference to the Roman statesman Cincinnatus, even though Johnson was probably aware the statement would draw criticism. When asked to serve as a temporary dictator, Cincinnatus returned to Rome, and Johnson exploited the analogy when he was mayor of London.
