Liz Truss to be named as British Prime Minister today

Liz Truss is expected to be named before noon today as Britain’s new prime minister and successor to Boris Johnson, at a time when the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession.

Her emergence followed weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive party leadership contest that pitted her against Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister.

Truss’s predecessor was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal.

On Tuesday, she will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth, who will ask the new leader to form a government.

Long the front runner in the race to replace Johnson, Truss, if appointed, will become the Conservatives’ fourth prime minister since a 2015 election.

Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July.

Foreign minister under Boris Johnson, Truss, 47, has promised to act quickly to tackle Britain’s cost of living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies.

Speaking in a TV interview on Sunday she declined to give details of the measures she says will reassure millions of people who fear they will be unable to pay their fuel bills as winter approaches. read more

She has signalled during her leadership campaign she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies that some economists say would fuel inflation.

That, plus a pledge to review the remit of the Bank of England while protecting its independence, has prompted some investors to dump the pound and government bonds.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies cast doubt last month on Britain’s next prime minister having room to make large, permanent tax cuts