Liz Truss will take the oath as the next UK Prime Minister today and will appoint a Cabinet featuring no white man in the great offices of state for the first time.
Liz Truss will take the oath as the next UK Prime Minister on Tuesday after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership contest. Liz Truss will be the third woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. However, the key cabinet posts will see no white man.
Liz Truss defeated rival Rishi Sunak with 81,326 votes to 60,399 among party members. UK Foreign Minister and Conservative Party leader Liz Truss was elected as the next UK Prime Minister on Monday.
The announcements of the key ministerial portfolios are expected to start pouring in by Tuesday evening. For the first time in Britain’s history, there will not be a white man in one of the four great offices of state.
According to the British daily newspaper Guardian, Liz Truss is expected to appoint James Cleverly as foreign secretary, Suella Braverman as home secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor.
The expected appointments were welcomed by some, including Boris Johnson’s former race adviser, Samuel Kasumu, who resigned last year after a controversial report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which critics said dismissed institutional racism, Guardian reported.
It further reported that her rival, Rishi Sunak, is not expected to be offered a job in her cabinet, a break from the tradition whereby most unsuccessful leadership contenders have been offered posts.
Liz Truss is expected to arrive at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at 12:10 p.m. local time (1110 GMT) on Tuesday, where she will be formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth as the country’s next Prime Minister. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Monday Truss was expected to leave Balmoral around 12:40 p.m.
She will succeed Boris Johnson, who was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandals saw support for his administration drain away and ministers quit to force him out, reported Reuters.
It further reported that Johnson will give a speech outside Downing Street, then travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth at her Balmoral Castle residence to officially tender his resignation.
