Liz Truss will be the new UK prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest.
It was a closer result than many pundits expected, with Truss taking 57% of valid votes cast.
Speaking at a conference centre in Westminster, she thanked Sunak for a “hard-fought campaign” and pledged to deliver a “bold plan”.
Truss will become prime minister on Tuesday after travelling to meet the Queen at Balmoral in Scotland.
The current foreign secretary is under immediate pressure to announce a plan to tackle soaring energy costs.
She is understood to be considering a freeze on energy bills, with an announcement potentially scheduled for Thursday.
Labour’s Keir Starmer has congratulated her but says the country is facing a “Tory cost of living crisis”.
The outgoing PM has congratulated Liz Truss on what he called a “decisive win”.
“I know she has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country,” he tweeted.
“Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent.”
Johnson, who will formally offer his resignation to the Queen at Balmoral Castle tomorrow, said he had been proud to serve as Tory leader for the last three years and “winning the biggest majority for decades” for his party.
Who is Liz Truss? From teenage Lib Dem to Tory PM
So we now know Liz Truss will become the new UK prime minister after her victory in the Conservative Party leadership race. But what do we know about the 47-year-old?
In many ways, Mary Elizabeth Truss is not a conventional Tory.
Born in Oxford in 1975, she has described her father – a mathematics professor – and her mother – a nurse – as “left-wing”.
As a young girl, her mother took part in marches for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – an organisation vehemently opposed to the Thatcher government’s decision to allow US nuclear warheads to be installed at RAF Greenham Common, west of London.
After moving to Paisley, just west of Glasgow, when she was four, the family then decamped once more to Leeds, where she attended a state secondary school.
She went on to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, where she was active in student politics – initially for the Liberal Democrats, before switching to the Conservatives.
After graduating, she worked as an accountant for the oil and gas company Shell, as well as telecommunications company Cable & Wireless. She married fellow accountant Hugh O’Leary in 2000. They have two children.
BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon
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