Liz Truss became Britain’s next prime minister on Tuesday after meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, who asked her to form a new government as the country faces an acute cost-of-living crisis. Truss, 47, took office in the carefully choreographed ceremony with the monarch a day after the ruling Conservative Party announced that Truss was elected as its leader.
Her predecessor, Boris Johnson, formally stepped down during his own audience with the queen at her Balmoral estate in Scotland. Truss, 47, takes office a day after the ruling party’s 172,000 members elected her as their leader, putting her in line to be named prime minister in Tuesday’s carefully choreographed ceremony at the queen’s summer residence.
This is the first time in the queen’s 70-year reign that the handover of power is taking place at Balmoral, rather than Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule because the 96-year-old queen has experienced problems getting around that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a day-to-day basis.
Johnson, 58, became prime minister three years ago after his predecessor, Theresa May, failed to deliver Britain’s departure from the European Union. Johnson later won an 80-seat majority in Parliament with the promise to “get Brexit done.”
But he was forced out of office by a series of scandals that culminated in the resignation of dozens of Cabinet secretaries and lower-level officials in early July. He alluded to that downfall in his leaving remarks, saying he was handing over the baton to Truss in “what has unexpectedly become a relay race.”
The first task for Truss will be to appoint a Cabinet to tackle the government’s mountain of challenges.
