Mon 05 September 2022:
Liz Truss won the contest to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday.
Truss received approximately 57,4% of the votes in the Conservative leadership contest.
Truss elected with 57.4% of vote – lower margin than any previous Tory leader chosen by members
Liz Truss got 57.4% of the vote, and Rishi Sunak received 42.6%. That means, of the four Conservative party leaders elected after a ballot of the whole membership, she is the only one to have secured less than 60% of the vote.
Truss promises to ‘deliver for our country’
Liz Truss says it is an honour to have been elected as party leader. She thanks the party staff “for organising one of the longest job interviews in history”.
She thanks her family, friends and supporters.
“Friends and colleagues, thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on Earth.
I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people: our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility.
I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019 and as your party leader I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country.”
“During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a conservative.
And my friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.
I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.
I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply.
And I will deliver on the National Health Service
But we all will deliver for our country. And I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative party, our brilliant members of parliament and peers, our fantastic counsellors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country. Because, my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver”.
And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024. Thank you.
At 82.6%, the turnout was lower than it was in the ballot that saw Boris Johnson elected in 2019. But it was higher than in 2001 and in 2005 (when the party was in opposition, and the result counted for less.)
In 2001 Iain Duncan Smith beat Ken Clarke in the final ballot with 60.7% of the vote over Clarke’s 39.3%. Turnout was 78.3%.
In 2005 David Cameron beat David Davis in the final ballot with 67.6% of the vote over Davis’s 32.3%. Turnout was 78.4%.
And in 2019 Boris Johnson beat Jeremy Hunt in the final ballot with 66.4% of the vote over Hunt’s 33.6%. Turnout was 87.4%
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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