Liz Truss

Only two candidates are left in the race to be next leader of the Conservative party. Our panellists tell us who they think will win.

He is the preference of most of his cabinet and MP colleagues as well as of opinion polls of the general public. That person is Sunak. He may also lack experience, but his performance at the Treasury during Johnson’s nightmare premiership suggests a man of sound judgment, caution and competence. Rishi Sunak has two months to convince the Conservative membership that they should mirror the support given to him by fellow MPs. The former chancellor may have won the most votes from colleagues in his leadership bid, but his opponent, Liz Truss is – at the time of writing – that bit more popular with the Tory base. It has long stipulated that the government of the country should be led by the person who commands majority support of the House of Commons. They live predominantly in the south of England. That the nation’s leadership should hang on this tiny unrepresentative group is a perversion of parliamentary democracy. The decision of Truss versus Rishi Sunak now goes to a bizarre “selectorate” of the Tory party members. But a month is plenty of time for the former chancellor to turn things around. At present, Liz Truss is the favourite to win the second round; Conservative party members are not, in the main, well-disposed towards high taxes, even in aid of the impeccably Tory goal of not funding day-to-day spending by borrowing. But for now, he remains the candidate who seems more likely to reassure those voters that the Conservatives remain a sensible, acceptable option – and more than anything else, Tory activists want a winner. Yet while there is an immediate need to cut the cost of living by redistributing wealth and upgrading social infrastructure, there is no urgent necessity to cut the deficit. It is maybe why the economic debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss seems so utterly removed from the reality of British capitalism today. This is especially true of the Conservative party, whose members – overwhelmingly rich, old, white and male – will select the country’s next prime minister.

If it's not the pictures of her standing atop a tank in a nod to Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, it's the meme-defining moment when she vented her ...

Others believe she can steady the ship after Johnson's turbulent three years in power. Her robust stance on Russia, China and with Brussels over Brexit will also feature in the campaign. She criticised the monarchy when a member of the more centrist Liberal Democrats at the University of Oxford, and described her conversion to conservatism as a "rebellion" spurred by a belief that people "should succeed on merit". "Now is the time for boldness, not a business-as-usual approach," she said on Tuesday in a pointed reference to Sunak who has said he would not reduce taxes immediately. Born to parents she describes as "left-wing", her mother, a nurse and a teacher, and her father, a maths lecturer, took her on demonstrations against then Conservative prime minister Thatcher, now her political idol. For many, she was a figure of fun, but for those in the governing Conservative Party choosing who should replace Boris Johnson, it is her conversion to passionate Brexit supporter and her offer of tax cuts that have propelled her to within touching distance of becoming Britain's next prime minister.

Former Goldman Sachs analyst and pandemic chancellor is up against one-time accountant turned foreign secretary.

Wants to continue the Johnsonian levelling-up agenda, but based around low tax and low regulation zones. Committed to maintaining government’s legally binding goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and has assured the Tories’ green wing he would protect the environment. On the environment Getting lost while trying to leave her press conference setting out her leadership stall. On the environment Supports Rwanda removal scheme, though No 10 sources have briefed that he opposed it as chancellor.

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss will battle it out to become Britain's next prime minister after they won the final ...

"We must all now work together to unify our party and focus on the job that needs to be done." Truss might struggle at the hustings against Sunak, who is more relaxed in public appearances. "I am in it, to win it," she said to reporters. In a statement, she added: "As prime minister I would hit the ground running from day one, unite the party and govern in line with Conservative values." Whoever triumphs when the result is announced on 5 September will inherit some of the most difficult conditions in Britain in decades. The vitriol between the candidates also poses the question of how well any new leader will be able to govern, with Johnson still popular with many in the party and country, and the party increasingly split between its various factions.

LONDON — The next prime minister of Britain and leader of the Conservative Party is now guaranteed to be an ethnic minority or a woman, after Tory lawmakers ...

Was it glib? Was it fitting? Meanwhile, Johnson will be bidding a long goodbye. On Wednesday, he said farewell to the House of Commons — and to his fellow lawmakers who gave him the boot — in a rowdy appearance marking the near-end of his premiership and this weird, shape-shifting Age of Boris. Sunak is a former Goldman Sachs heavy, a former hedge fund manager. He married really rich.

The UK foreign secretary is now the hot favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.

"It was another example of the focus on messaging over substance." "I honestly think it's already over," one supportive MP said Wednesday. "She's no good at the hustings — we saw that last week — but it doesn't matter a jot. More colleagues rushed to Truss this week, he added, as it became clear she had a real shot at the top job. Both his Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg rowed in behind her campaign and were unafraid to get personal with her rivals. A YouGov poll of Tory members this week suggested that in a run-off between Truss and Sunak, it would be the foreign secretary who comes out on top. “We think that debate crystallized in people’s minds that she was someone who could really take it to Rishi," an aide said. She was then widely judged to have performed disastrously in the first of two televised leadership debates, and has continued to poll poorly among the general public over which candidate would make the best prime minister. “It's all about who has the most friends," one supportive MP explained. Truss has pledged to cancel his planned 6p rise in corporation tax, and abolish a £12 billion increase in national insurance contributions. Similarly, Truss appears to have picked up crucial votes at the 11th hour from her right-wing rival Kemi Badenoch, who was eliminated Tuesday night. Truss had been slow to launch, stuck abroad in Indonesia on ministerial duty when the Johnson regime imploded earlier this month. She now finds herself the hot favorite to win the race for No. 10 Downing Street.

Liz Truss has links to secretively funded climate sceptic groups while Rishi Sunak opposed climate spending as finance minister.

According to research by the Overseas Development Institute, the UK under Sunak gave just $3.2 bn in Sunak’s first year as finance minister, half of its “fair share” towards the $100bn target. Sunak’s political career and climate record is shorter than Truss’s. He was elected to parliament in 2015 and plucked from obscurity to become Boris Johnson’s chancellor just as the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Domestically, Sunak’s spending cuts led to the cancellation of a badly run home insulation subsidy scheme in 2021. And as the UK’s high temperature record was shattered this week, with a provisional reading of 40.3C, a poll found 70% of voters understood that climate change was the driver. In an attempt to win Tory MPs’ votes today, Sunak announced he would not relax planning rules for onshore wind. A readout of the CEN hustings shared with Climate Home shows that Truss mainly focused on conserving nature. The rest were undecided. The figures for 2021 have yet to be released. This has generally hindered UK climate policies. In 2018, she criticised her own government’s attempts to control air pollution from wood-burning stoves. She boasted of bringing back beavers to the UK as environment secretary, promised to review the UK’s list of protected species and lead a delegation to the biodiversity Cop in Montreal. Despite this record, she has earned the support of the party’s most climate-aware ministers Zac Goldsmith. When Johnson resigned, the international environment minister tweeted that most of the leadership candidates “couldn’t give a shit about climate and nature” but has gone on to back Truss as “the obvious choice”.

Liz Truss has undergone a political reinvention to become the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and UK Prime Minister.

The two candidates in the Conservative leadership race are setting out their pitches to the party members who will choose Boris Johnson's successor. · Rishi ...

Writing in the Daily Mail, Ms Truss said "the central issue at the next election is going to be the economy" and "we have been going in the wrong direction on tax". In the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sunak wrote that he believed in "hard work, family and integrity", adding: "I am running as a Thatcherite, and I will govern as a Thatcherite." Mr Sunak has previously said the tax burden needed to be reduced but not immediately, saying it was a matter of "when not if". She also pledged to bring in an emergency budget to get the changes through quickly and to announce a spending review to "find more efficiencies in government spending". Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sunak said he would introduce "a set of reforms as radical as the ones Margaret Thatcher drove through in the 1980s". There were gasps at how close the election to make the final two was and a real awareness of the responsibility party members now carry, on behalf of the country.

UK foreign secretary shrugs off accusations of fiscal irresponsibility after entering final round of Tory leadership contest.

Bosses at BBC Broadcasting House and Channel 4 Horseferry Road will be examining Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss's record on public broadcasting.

BBC bosses have said they are open to new models and are due to set out the principles of future funding in the coming weeks but losing a guaranteed £3.8B ($4.6B) a year would be a blow. Both broadcasters took a battering from Johnson’s firebrand Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, via a recently announced review into the future of the BBC licence fee and, more existentially, legislation to privatize Channel 4. Of concern to the BBC, however, Politico reported last week that Sunak has said in private that he would be willing to scrap the £159 ($190) per year annual licence fee and look to alternative funding models when the BBC Charter expires in 2027.

As a seven-year-old in 1983, Liz Truss played the role of Britain's former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her school's mock elections but failed to get ...

founded firmly on Conservative values" and took aim at the cultural influence of "post-modern philosophy". In 2020, she revealed more of her cultural beliefs in a speech in which she called for "a new approach to equality... She has described herself as a "disruptor-in-chief" and an enemy of "burdensome red tape". Truss was promoted to government in 2012, becoming a minister in the education department, then the first female justice minister before taking on the role of chief secretary to the Treasury. Truss has been a staunch supporter of Boris Johnson during his turbulent three years in Downing Street, and has presented herself as the torchbearer of his "boosterish" vision of Britain's place in the world. But she insisted recently that she is her "own person" and "not trying to emulate anybody".

Foreign secretary tells BBC her tax cut plans would cost roughly £38bn a year as she lays out campaign against Rishi Sunak.

In her paper, the clerk of the journals adds: “It is for the committee and the house to determine whether a contempt has occurred and the intention of the contemnor is not relevant to making that decision. This ruling is bad for Johnson because he has already admitted that some of the comments he made to MPs about Partygate were misleading. The clerk’s memo explains that while “much of the commentary has focussed on whether Mr Johnson “deliberately” or “knowingly” misled the Committee”, “this wording is not in the motion”. The committee will seek to take evidence from Johnson and others in public in the autumn. Johnson could face a recall petition, which could lead to a byelection in his constituency, if the committee were to recommend a lengthy suspension from parliament as a punishment. What is the gamble is what we’re doing at the moment because, currently, the United Kingdom is projected to head for a recession. What is a gamble is what we’re doing at the moment. This shows that the MPs are being exceptionally thorough – which is not surprising because an inquiry of this kind is unprecedented in modern times. What is the gamble is what we’re doing at the moment because, currently, the United Kingdom is projected to head for a recession. What is a gamble is what we’re doing at the moment. Truss claimed that “economic orthodoxy” followed by governments over the past 20 years has failed to deliver proper economic growth. Truss claimed that “economic orthodoxy” followed by governments over the past 20 years has failed to deliver proper economic growth.

The radical economic policies backed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss would set UK markets on a downward spiral, according to investors at some of the top ...

Liz Truss vows a new economic approach, as she battles with Rishi Sunak to be the next prime minister.

And where does she see the limit of borrowing? In her first broadcast interview of the leadership campaign, Ms Truss told the BBC she was "wrong" in the 2016 Brexit referendum, when she backed Remain. More borrowing, as she advocates now? Mr Sunak has previously said the tax burden needed to be reduced but not immediately, saying it was a matter of "when not if". He is expected to set out further policies in the coming days. It hasn't delivered growth." Meanwhile, Mr Sunak made his case in the Daily Telegraph, pledging to deliver "a set of reforms as radical as the ones Margaret Thatcher drove through in the 1980s".

Liz Truss, the favourite to become Britain's next prime minister, on Thursday criticised rival Rishi Sunak over his tax policies while finance minister, ...

"I have developed my political views and ideas. he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. He urged his successor to "cut taxes and deregulate where you can to make this the greatest place to live and invest". Truss's message to the members is that she is a politician of conviction who will "bulldoze" through institutions that stand in the way of reform. "I am a Thatcherite, I am running as a Thatcherite and I will govern as a Thatcherite." "We've got a really positive message to take out to all our members now -- crucially, who is the best person to beat Keir Starmer and the Labour Party at the next election?"

In YouGov polling Liz Truss has the advantage right now, however things can change quickly says YouGov Associate Director Patrick English.

He added that there is a sense among the membership that want to see tax cuts and classic party values at the heart of government. He says they want someone strong with honesty and integrity and the second important thing they are looking for is more of a return to conventional conservatism. In YouGov polling Liz Truss has the advantage right now, however things can change quickly says YouGov Associate Director Patrick English. Speaking to Bloomberg Daybreak's Caroline Hepker and Alex Webb he outlines what two key things party members are looking for in their next leader.

Tory leadership candidate details her proposals to cut taxes that she voted for as part of Johnson's cabinet.

About 160,000 fee-paying members – half aged over 60, 97% white and a large proportion male and from southern England – will have the chance to vote next month. “I think he did a fantastic job with the 2019 election, and that he delivered Brexit and the vaccines. The interview came on the day after she and the former chancellor Rishi Sunak became the final two candidates in the running to become the UK’s next prime minister. She added: “What is the gamble is what we’re doing at the moment, because currently the United Kingdom is projected to head for a recession. Robert Jenrick also appeared on the Today programme, in support of Sunak’s leadership campaign. She added: “We have had a consensus of the Treasury, of economists, with the Financial Times, with other outlets, peddling a particular type of economic policy for 20 years.

Experts reject Tory candidate's claim tax cuts 'will decrease inflation' – and warn of austerity era ahead.

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Race favourite's economic credibility under fire – as she appears to be coasting to victory in vote by Tory members.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. “What people in Britain desperately need now is change. Frances Coppola, a financial economist and writer, warned of a strong likelihood that the plans would “backfire” and damage the economy, saying: “These tax cuts are likely to be inflationary in the short-term.” By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. I controlled public spending effectively.” We need to unleash investment in our country,” the candidate insisted, arguing that her tax cuts would boost “the supply side of the economy”.

Those responsible for her imprisonment have still not been sanctioned, despite the Foreign Office knowing their identities, says Richard Ratcliffe.

Richard Ratcliffe is the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held hostage in Iran between 2016 and 2022. Unlike the US, the UK has seemingly been pretty sanguine about the torture and hostage-taking of its citizens. The quiet growth of hostage diplomacy is not unique to Iran, as recent actions by Russia demonstrate. The swirling pace of the musical chairs means that some things don’t get seen, and the quiet stuff risks not being delivered. I also understand that his officers enforced the last-minute, forced, and therefore fake confession of Nazanin, and subsequently blocked the furlough of other British nationals in defiance of what had been agreed with the United Kingdom.” This is exactly the opposite of what a free media is all about. Most have been looking for a critique of Liz Truss and her campaign’s claim that she was the one who brought my wife Nazanin home after she had been imprisoned in Iran. During these past months Iran’s hostage diplomacy has escalated, with a new wave of European hostages coming to light. However, the way this was done had consequences for those left behind, a fact the government is reluctant to acknowledge. There is a continuing parliamentary inquiry that is trying to understand some of the decisions made. “Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour: a reporter with state-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. She is known for eliciting forced confessions from prisoners in front of camera during interrogations. As Chris Bryant MP, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Magnitsky sanctions, stated in parliament today, these included:

Liz Truss claims her economic agenda of tax cuts and public spending will revitalise the UK economy, but it is not just her rival prime ministerial candidate ...

But one thing is for sure: “they will mean higher borrowing or less public spending, or some combination”, so vast swathes of Whitehall and welfare spending will need to come under the hammer. Truss is likely to cause consternation in financial markets if she seeks to meddle in the central bank’s decision-making. Harking back to Margaret Thatcher’s stance in 1979, Truss believes inflation is partly the result of cheap borrowing fostered by the central bank, so tighter monetary policy would limit rising prices.

The Tory leadership hopeful, fittingly dressed in black and white, was met by the noisy demonstrators as she walked up to the Local Government Association's ...

A protester dressed as one of the furry mammals followed the Foreign Secretary with placards that read “I am innocent” and “176,000 badgers shot by Defra” (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Ms Truss followed suit by leaving via a side entrance, but her exit did not go unnoticed by the badger proponents. Ms Truss oversaw the culling of badgers as environment secretary as part of a programme intended to halt the spread of TB in cattle.

Patrick Minford is a fellow at the Centre for Brexit Policy and led Economists for Free Trade, both of which have strong ties to the Global Warming Policy ...

Truss has been linked to a string of libertarian think-tanks opposed to government climate targets. Steve Baker, an influential backbench MP and GWPF trustee who leads an anti-green faction in parliament, is backing Truss’ bid for leader. However, she has a record of working with free market think-tanks that are opposed to government action on climate change, and she has vowed to overturn the UK’s ban on fracking for shale gas.

Former chancellor says opponent's economic policies risk stoking inflation and pushing up interest rates.

With inflation already at a 40-year high, he told LBC: “My strong point of view is if the government goes on a huge borrowing spree, that is only going to make that situation worse. He said spending cuts would be extremely difficult in the current circumstances. The Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “Families across this country are crying out for affordable childcare so that they don’t have to choose between their career and their kids. The former Conservative chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said he was concerned about Truss’s plans. Analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested Truss’s promises were ultimately likely to lead to public spending cuts. We’re stuck with a zombie government and ministers focusing on the leadership campaign instead of doing their jobs.”

'Fuming' Tories are reportedly 'tearing up their party membership' over the chance of Truss becoming PM.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. The Independent has contacted the offices of Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss for comment.

The race to become next prime minister has come down to an increasingly bitter battle between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Heather Stewart weighs up the ...

But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work. And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all. Truss is promising immediate tax cuts worth about £30bn while Sunak says he will prioritise balancing the books and tackling inflation over what he calls ‘fairytale’ economics.

It's exhausting, keeping up with her journey. It's almost as if she doesn't believe in anything at all.

Just time to say she was all in favour of a new royal yacht, provided it was funded by Tesco, and that she was Labour’s worst nightmare. Little Miracles would still be short of funds and the parents would still struggle to get the services their children needed. Though the proof would be in the delivery. And it just so happens that every time she needs some new ideas, she comes up with a set that exactly mirrors those that are needed to enable her to rise still higher in the Tory party. She can at least see the absurdity of someone like her becoming prime minister. She must have made countless visits like this as a constituency MP. She chatted to the kids for a while about the hassle of being followed around by the media. He did so because the country was falling apart in a pandemic. It was that remaining in the EU was wrong. A journey without any ideas or purpose other than to adapt to her surroundings and rise to the top. Her prescription for getting the economy back on track is to reverse the national insurance hikes and to cut personal and corporation tax. She is the anti-ideologue. Examine the journey more carefully, though, and it begins to look even more remarkable.

Foreign secretary is out in front as ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak also bids to be prime minister.

Earlier this week, figures suggested that Truss, 46, would beat the 42-year-old former Chancellor in a hypothetical head-to-head by 19 points.

They can be wrong - and this is only day one of our focus turning to members, the Huffington Post reported. They will then tour the UK to take part in 12 hustings for the Tory members who will vote for their next leader, with the result being announced on September 5. "Rishi is going out to the membership and set out a positive vision for our country - and there is everything to play for," the Huffington Post report added. The current size of the Conservative membership is unknown, but at the last leadership election in 2019 there were around 160,000 members, and insiders expect it to have grown, meaning the polling is not representative of the party. According to the survey of 730 Conservative Party members on Wednesday and Thursday, 62 per cent said that they would vote for Truss and 38 per cent opted for Sunak, excluding those who said they wouldn't vote or did not know. YouGovsurvey. On Thursday, Conservative Party members voted to send both Sunak and Truss through to the final stage of the party's leadership contest in the race to replace Boris Johnson.