Britain to learn identity of new premier Monday after lengthy Tory vote

Liz Truss favorite to beat Rishi Sunak as new Conservative Party leader, and thus PM, though public may not agree; whoever wins will face laundry list of problems left by Johnson

LONDON (AFP) — The UK will learn Monday who will be its next prime minister, with Liz Truss the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson and take charge as the country battles a spiraling cost-of-living crisis.

The result will be announced at 12:30 p.m., after foreign minister Truss and her rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, spent the summer rallying support among the Conservative Party members who cast the final vote.

If she wins, Truss will become the UK’s third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher.

The 47-year-old has consistently been ahead of 42-year-old Sunak in polling among the estimated 200,000 Tory members eligible to vote.

The leadership contest began in July after Johnson announced his resignation following a slew of scandals and resignations from his government.

Postal and online voting closed Friday after eight weeks of campaigning that Truss described to the BBC as “the longest job interview in history.”

The vote may not reflect general public opinion, however.

A YouGov poll in late August found 52 percent thought Truss would make a “poor” or “terrible” prime minister.

A new mural showing the two Conservative leadership contestants Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss appears on a wall in Belfast City Centre, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. (AP/Peter Morrison)

Forty-three percent said they did not trust her “at all” to deal with the burning issue of the rise in the cost of living.

Whoever emerges as winner faces a slew of problems all needing immediate attention. The Sunday Times called it the “worst in-tray for a new prime minister since Thatcher.”

The UK is gripped by its worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, with inflation soaring into double digits and energy prices shooting up on the back of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Millions say that with bills set to rise by 80 percent from October — and even higher from January — they face a painful choice between eating and heating this winter, according to surveys.

“If I’m elected prime minister, I will act immediately on bills and on energy supply,” Truss told the BBC on Sunday, while declining to give details.

“Within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the issue,” she added.

Truss has campaigned on a promise to slash taxes and prioritize economic growth, just as Britain is tipped to enter recession later this year.

She said Sunday she would “within a month present a full plan for how we are going to reduce taxes” and “get the British economy going.”

Sunak has vowed further government support to help people pay their energy bills and said curbing inflation would be his priority, attacking Truss’s tax-slashing plans as reckless.

British Conservative Party member Rishi Sunak launches his campaign for the Conservative Party leadership, in London, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (AP/Alberto Pezzali)

“Helping people with the cost of living and energy bills comes above everything else that I might like to do,” he told the BBC on Sunday.

“We shouldn’t rule anything out. I mean, we’re facing a genuine emergency. I think anyone pretending that that isn’t the situation isn’t being straight with the country,” he said.

Polls show public support for an early general election and the Conservatives face a growing challenge to retain their 12-year grip on power.

Truss became foreign minister a year ago after holding a series of ministerial posts in departments including education, international trade and justice.

She began her political journey as a teenage member of the centrist Liberal Democrats before switching to the right-wing Conservatives.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, left, arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (AP/Paul White)

In 2016, she campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union but quickly switched allegiance when Britons backed Brexit.

Her dress sense and love of photo opportunities — posing in a tank in Estonia and wearing a fur hat in Moscow — have earned her comparisons to Tory icon Thatcher.

Her sometimes stiff style has become visibly more relaxed and allies have sought to soften her image, revealing her love of karaoke and socializing.

The announcement Monday by Conservative Party officials of who will take over the leadership sets in motion a chain of events.

On Tuesday, Johnson will deliver a farewell speech at Downing Street.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts as he leaves from 10 Downing Street on July 20, 2022 to head to the Houses of Parliament for his last weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

He will then formally tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, after which she will appoint his successor in a so-called kissing of hands ceremony.

For the first time in her reign, the 96-year-old monarch will appoint the prime minister at her Scottish retreat, Balmoral, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London.

This comes as the queen has suffered mobility problems and been forced to cancel a number of public engagements.

The next prime minister will be the 15th since the queen took the throne.