Foreign secretary Liz Truss has become the third female prime minister of the history of the United Kingdom.
Truss was named leader of the governing Conservative Party yesterday to take power as Britain’s next prime minister at a time when the country faces a cost-of-living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession.
This came after weeks of a bad-tempered and divisive party leadership contest that pitted Truss against Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, Monday’s announcement triggered the beginning of a handover from Boris Johnson.
Other women before her in that officer were Margaret Thatcher, who was in office between 1979 and 1990 and Theresa May, who was prime minister from 2016 to 2019.
Truss, aged 47, has promised to act quickly to tackle Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and secure future fuel supplies.
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She signaled during her leadership campaign she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies that some economists say would increase inflation.
Meanwhile, global leaders have sent their congratulations to Liz Truss – but in the international media, there have been snarkier remarks, too as the UK Foreign Secretary becomes the Third Female Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
“She has gone to see the Queen,” said Russian television presenter Ivan Trushkin. “If she [the Queen] recognises her of course.”
In France, meanwhile, she has been branded not the Iron Lady – which was former UK PM Margaret Thatcher’s nickname – but the Iron Weathercock.
This is a reference to Ms Truss’s changing views on the UK leaving the European Union – she went from opponent before the 2016 referendum, to supporter afterwards, saying in July that “some of the portents of doom didn’t happen”.
It’s believed the term was first coined in Les Echos in July – but has since caught on among some commentators.
Like Les Echos, Italy’s Corriere della Sera compared Truss to Thatcher – but described the new leader’s speeches as more “robotic.”
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