It’s official. Liz Truss has won the Conservative Party leadership race.
Tomorrow she will become prime minister when she visits the Queen in Balmoral for an invitation to form her UK government.
Sir Graham Brady has given some numbers on the margin of Liz Truss’ victory over Rishi Sunak.
He said Truss won 81,326 votes compared to Sunak’s share of 60,399 votes.
Brady added there was a turnout of 82.6%
Fresh from her victory Liz Truss addressed the Queen Elizabeth II Centre auditorium.
A beaming Liz Truss took the stage after her victory to a huge standing ovation, saying it’s an honour to be elected as the leader.
She thanked the party for “organising one of the longest job interviews in history”, as well as her supporters.
Liz Truss went on to pay tribute to the other Tory leadership race candidates, particularly Rishi Sunak.
She said the campaign was “hard-fought” and showed “the depth and breadth of talent” in the party.
Truss thanked Boris Johnson for standing up to Vladimir Putin, getting Brexit done, rolling out the Covid vaccine and “crushing Jeremy Corbyn”.
“You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle,” she said – but to a delayed applause and somewhat muted from the audience.
She told the auditorium that she knows Tory beliefs resonate with the British people.
Truss said this includes freedom and the ability to control their own life as well as low taxes.
Liz Truss pledged to follow through on her promises to voters, saying the Tory party needs to show it can deliver over the next two years.
She said she has a “bold plan” to cut taxes and grow the UK economy.
On the prevailing issue of rising energy bills, she said she will “deliver” when it comes to crisis by not only dealing with bills but also the long term supply issues.
“We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver”, concluded Truss – adding that the party will defeat Labour at the 2024 general election.
