Queen Elizabeth II appoints Liz Truss as the next Prime Minister of Britain

UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was appointed as the next Prime Minister of Britain by Queen Elizabeth II at the Balmoral estate in Scotland. The appointment was made shortly after outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met the monarch to formally offer his resignation.

Liz Truss takes office a day after Britain’s conservative party’s over one lakh seventy thousand members elected her as their leader in a tough race against Indian-origin former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

In her victory speech on Monday, the incoming Prime Minister Truss promised to deliver on the economy, the energy crisis and the overstretched health care system as the country faces major crises on these fronts, especially owing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Covid pandemic.

Breaking with tradition, this is the first time in Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign that the handover of power is taking place at Balmoral, rather than Buckingham Palace in London. The change in the location of the ceremony sparked rumours over the health of the 96-year-old Queen.

Earlier in the day, UK’s Outgoing Prime Minister bade farewell to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. Speaking to the media outside his residence, Mr. Johnson highlighted the fuel and energy crisis due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict and expressed confidence that the new government would continue extending support to the people in overcoming the crisis. Calling upon his conservative party members to leave aside politics, he urged them to stand with Ms. Truss to overcome what he described as tough times for the economy.