Foreign

G7 Summit: Liz Truss Calls for Ties with Taiwan

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Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has called for ties with Taiwan to be boosted to combat threats from China, ahead of May’s G7 summit in Hiroshima.

In a speech in Tokyo, she urged countries to send a message to Beijing that “military aggression towards Taiwan would be a strategic mistake”.

It was her first public speech since she resigned in October.

Her successor Rishi Sunak has said China should be dealt with through “robust pragmatism”.

Ms Truss, who was previously foreign secretary, put forward a number of policy recommendations for countries to support Taiwan, including reducing reliance on China in key industries, deepening economic ties with Taiwan, and accepting the self-ruled island into international organisations.

She also called for a more developed Pacific defence alliance so that Taiwan “is able to defend itself”, and closer cooperation with Nato, adding that, “countries should find a way to elevate Taiwan’s status”.

Her speech was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international campaign group that focuses on how democratic countries approach China.

The Japanese government said this week it would review its defence policy in the wake of the alleged Chinese spy balloon episode in the US.

Asked about Ms Truss’s comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: “I have yet to see the speech. But we are against distorting facts about China.”

He added: “The Taiwan question is China’s domestic affair. Allegations of economic coercion from China are unfounded.”

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

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Foreign

Liz Truss Resigns, Becomes UK’s Shortest-Serving PM

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Liz Truss has been in office for just 45 days – the shortest tenure of any UK prime minister.

The second shortest-serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days before dying in 1827.

Trouble began when her first Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, spooked the financial markets with his mini-budget on 23 September.

Since then, Conservative disquiet has morphed into widespread anger within the parliamentary party.

Her stepping down today follows dramatic scenes in the House of Commons last night over a vote on fracking.

Calls for her to go kept growing in the hours afterwards.

Maxwell Oyekunle/BBC

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Foreign

Truss Meets Cabinet Members, Face MPs Wednesday

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Britain’s new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, convenes her senior ministers for an inaugural cabinet meeting on Wednesday on her first full day in the office before she faces a barrage of questions in parliament.

Truss, who officially became leader Tuesday at an audience with the head of state, Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland after the resignation of Boris Johnson, is set to meet her top team at a morning meeting.

They include the most diverse top team in British history ever: Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Cleverly as foreign secretary and Suella Braverman as interior minister.

They face a daunting in-tray of issues, most notably decades-high inflation and how to deal with energy bills set to rise by 80 per cent next month and then again in January.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England has tipped the country to fall into recession later this year.

She must also navigate the combustible issue of post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, and in one of her first calls with a foreign leader late Tuesday, she agreed with US President Joe Biden “on the importance of protecting” peace in the province.

In its readout of the call, the White House also said Truss and Biden addressed “the challenges posed by China (and) preventing Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

But Truss was bullish as she entered Downing Street for the first time as premier, narrowly avoiding a heavy downpour.

“I am confident that together we can ride out the storm,” she said.

Her new ministers may be asked to sign off immediately on a plan to freeze energy bills for the coming winter, possibly longer, a measure that would cost tens of billions of pounds, according to reports.

Tax cuts and diverting some health funding to social care could also reportedly be on the agenda.

“I will cut taxes to reward hard work and boost business-led growth and investment,” Truss promised, while also vowing “action this week” on gas and electricity bills and broader energy policy.

Punch/Titilayo Kupoliyi

Foreign

Liz Truss is UK’s New Prime Minister

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Liz Truss is the new UK prime minister after being appointed by the Queen at Balmoral Castle

Later this afternoon, Truss will address the nation at Downing Street and is expected to start naming her cabinet

 Boris Johnson earlier tendered his resignation to the monarch after travelling separately to Scotland

In a farewell speech this morning outside No 10, he called himself “a booster rocket” that had “fulfilled its function”

“This is it, folks”, he said as he defended his record and called on the Conservative Party to unite behind Truss

She is under pressure to announce an immediate plan to tackle spiralling energy costs.

Liz Truss is UK’s third female prime minister

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon

Foreign

Outgoing UK PM Pledges Support for Successor

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Boris Johnson on Tuesday promised unswerving support for his successor, Liz Truss, as he left Downing Street for the final time as British prime minister to tender his resignation.

Johnson, whose tenure was dominated by Brexit and COVID-19, and cut short by scandal, bid farewell to cheers and applause from supporters before heading for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II.

In a typical rhetorical flourish, he likened himself to “one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function,” and would splash down “in a remote and obscure corner of the Pacific”.

But he promised, “I will be supporting Liz Truss and the new government every step of the way.”

He urged his ruling Conservative party to put aside their differences to tackle the energy crisis that looks set to dominate Truss’s immediate future.

“If Dilyn (his dog) and Larry (the Downing Street cat) can put behind them their occasional difficulties then so can the Conservative party,” he added.

Normally the handover of power in Britain is a swift affair, with the outgoing and incoming leaders making a short trip to Buckingham Palace in central London in quick succession.

But both Johnson and Truss face a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometre) round trip to the head of state’s remote Balmoral retreat in the Scottish Highlands.

The queen opted not to return from her annual summer break for the brief ceremonial audience, after persistent health issues that have affected her ability to walk and stand.

Johnson is due to arrive at 11:20 am (1020 GMT) at Balmoral, with Truss expected at 12:10 pm, royal officials said.

At the meeting, which should last about 30 minutes, she will ask Truss, as the leader of the largest party in parliament, to form a government.

Truss, 47, was announced winner of an internal vote of Conservative party members on Monday, after a gruelling contest that began in July.

Punch/Titilayo Kupoliyi

Foreign

Liz Truss Beats Rishi Sunak, to Become UK Prime Minister

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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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Foreign

Finally, Boris Johnson Agrees to Resign

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to resign, ending an unprecedented political crisis that has paralyzed Britain’s government.

His office made the disclosure on Thursday although he plans to continue to serve as prime minister until the autumn to allow a Tory leadership contest to take place in the summer.

Some Tory MPs are calling for him to stand down immediately after more than 50 government ministers and aides quit his government

Labour leader Keir Starmer welcomes the news, saying the Conservatives have “inflicted chaos upon the country” during a cost of living crisis

In the meantime, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is cutting short her trip to a G20 meeting in Indonesia and returning to London.

It is expected that she will issue a statement shortly

Details later….

Vanguard/BBC/Oluwayemisi Owonikoko