Mary Elizabeth Truss was born on 26 July 1975 at theJohn Radcliffe Hospital inOxford, England.[1] She was the second child ofJohn and Priscilla Truss (née Grasby); the year before Truss's birth, their first son, Matthew, had died.[1][n 2] Truss was known by her middle name,Elizabeth, from early childhood, with her father—a professor ofpure mathematics at theUniversity of Leeds—using it regularly, which she preferred;[3] after being given a badge with "Mary" on it on her first day of school, Truss asked her teacher that it be changed.[4] She later described her parents' politics as being "to the left ofLabour";[5] her mother, a teacher and nurse, was a member of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.[6] When Truss stood for election as a Conservative, her mother agreed to campaign with her but her father declined to do so.[7] Her parents divorced in 2003.[8]
[S]he stands out in my memory as a sort of strange, unfocused force, hugely in favour of action and change... it was always hard to see the aim of it all, or where it might lead, except that she would be at the centre of it.
In 1977 Truss and her parents moved toWarsaw in Poland, but returned to Britain after John and Priscilla found it "quite grim".[10] After living briefly inKidderminster,Worcestershire, the family moved toPaisley in Scotland when Truss was four years old, where she attended West Primary School.[11] In 1985 they moved south toLeeds, where Truss attendedRoundhay School; she later said in 2022 that at the school she "saw kids... being let down", a claim which was criticised as inaccurate by several former Roundhay pupils.[12] When Truss was 12 she and her family spent a year inBurnaby, British Columbia, Canada, where she attended Parkcrest Elementary School whilst her father taught atSimon Fraser University.[13] Truss praised the Canadian curriculum and the attitude that it was "really good to be top of the class", which she contrasted with her education at Roundhay.[14]
Truss's parents had initially wanted her to study at theUniversity of Cambridge, but Truss instead elected to go toOxford in what her biographers, Cole and Heale, call a "bout of teenage rebellion".[15] She applied toMerton College but was instead pooled to the all-women'sSt Hilda's College; annoyed, she then complained to both colleges, after which she was accepted by Merton and began her studies there in September 1993.[16] Truss readphilosophy, politics and economics and graduated in 1996.[17] During her time at university, Truss was active in theLiberal Democrats and was a member of the Oxford Reform Club.[18] She became the president of theOxford University Liberal Democrats in her first year[19] and a member of the national executive committee ofLiberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS) in 1995.[20] During Truss's previous, unsuccessful, bid for the LDYS executive, the party's leader,Paddy Ashdown, said she was "a good debater and is utterly fearless".[20] As a Liberal Democrat, Truss supported theabolition of the monarchy and thelegalisation of cannabis,[21] and campaigned against theCriminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.[22] However, by November 1995 Truss had become critical of the Liberal Democrats, as she "realised the Tory Party was saying quite sane things"; in her last year at the university, she resigned from the LDYS.[23] By 1996 Truss had joined the Conservative Party.[24]
Career
Employment and candidatures (1996–2010)
From 1996 to 2000, Truss worked forRoyal Dutch Shell, living inLewisham andGreenwich and qualifying as achartered management accountant.[25][26] In 2000, she was employed byCable & Wireless and rose to the position of economic director before leaving in 2005;[27] one of her colleagues there, the LabourpeerGeorge Robertson, said that Truss "had a passion for politics... she [was] fresh minded, enthusiastic and the Tory Party needed people like that".[28] In January 2008, after losing her first two elections, Truss became the deputy director ofReform, acentre-rightthink tank, where she advocated for more focus on countering serious andorganised crime, higher standards in schools and action to tackle Britain's "falling competitiveness".[29] She co-authoredThe Value of Mathematics,[30]Fit for Purpose,[31]A New Level,[30]Back To Black[32][33] and other reports.[30]
Whilst working at Shell, Truss served as the chair of theLewisham DeptfordConservative Association from 1998 to 2000, having been introduced to the branch by her friend and later Conservative MPJackie Doyle-Price.[24][34] During this time, at a reception at theGreenwich Conservative Association, Truss met her future husband,Hugh O'Leary,[24] whom she married in 2000 and with whom she has two daughters: Frances (born 2006) and Liberty (born 2008).[35][36] Truss unsuccessfully stood for election twice inGreenwich London Borough Council: forVanbrugh ward in 1998 andBlackheath Westcombe in 2002.[37][38] The deputy leader of Greenwich Conservatives, Graeme Coombes, recalled in 2022 that Truss "said [in 1998] she was hoping to stand for Parliament... she was destined for bigger and better things".[39] However, Alex Grant, the candidate who had defeated Truss in 2002, called her "largely invisible during the campaign".[40] Inthe 2006 council election, Truss was elected forEltham South,[41] but did not seek re-election to the council in2010, standing down the day she became an MP.[42]
David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016[43]
At the2001 general election Truss was selected for thesafe Labour seat ofHemsworth,West Yorkshire, coming a distant second but achieving a 3.2 per centswing to the Conservatives, thought impressive by her party colleagues.[7][44] The election saw the Conservatives make a net gain of one seat, which was considered a disappointment;[45] the party leader,William Hague, subsequently resigned, with Truss supporting the formerdefence secretaryMichael Portillo's unsuccessful leadership campaign.[46]
In January 2005 Sue Catling, the parliamentary candidate for theCalder Valley constituency, was forced to resign by the local Conservative Association because of an affair with the association's chairman.[47] Catling claimed that the members of the party that had opposed her were sexist and said that she was "accused of everything except murder and paedophilia".[48] Truss, who was selected as the candidate for the seat,narrowly lost to the Labour incumbent after an active Conservative campaign whichThe Yorkshire Post described as "Blitzkrieg".[49] Beginning in 2004, Truss embarked on an 18-month affair with the Conservative MPMark Field, which ended shortly after the following year's election.[50]
Following the 2005 general electionDavid CameronreplacedMichael Howard as leader, and Truss was added tothe party's A-List, a list of potential Conservative candidates;[44] in October 2009 she was selected for the constituency ofSouth West Norfolk by members of the local Conservative Association, winning over 50 per cent of the vote in the first round of the final against five other candidates, including the future deputy prime ministerThérèse Coffey.[51][52] Shortly after her selection, some members of the constituency association objected to Truss's selection because of her failure to declare her affair with Field.[53]The Mail on Sunday was the first to report on the affair, and party members claimed to have been misled over Truss's "skeleton in the cupboard".[52] A motion was proposed to terminate Truss's candidature; the proponents of Truss's deselection were branded the "TurnipTaliban" by Conservative Party officials and the press, including by theMail,[54] a reference to stereotypes about Norfolk being a county of farmers.[55] There was also controversy over the fact that Truss was not from Norfolk, with some in the association asking for a local candidate and saying that she had been "parachuted in".[56] On 16 November, the motion was put to the association: following both sides making their arguments, including what Cole and Heale call an "impassioned" speech from Truss, it was defeated by 132 votes to 37.[57][58]
Backbencher (2010–2012)
Truss was elected as an MP in the2010 general election, which saw 148 other Conservatives become MPs for the first time;[59] many of whatThe Independent described as the "golden generation" would later reach high ranks in government.[60] The Conservatives did not reach anoverall majority in theHouse of Commons and entered intoa coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, with Cameron becoming prime minister.[61] Following her election to Parliament, Truss campaigned for issues relating to her constituency, including the retention of theTornado GR4 airbase atRAF Marham in her constituency;[62][63] the replacement of the old aircraft with around 150 newF-35 strike fighters;[64] the conversion of theA11 west ofThetford into adual carriageway, which was completed in 2014;[65][66] and preventing a waste incinerator being built inKing's Lynn.[63] Truss co-founded theFree Enterprise Group (FEG)—a grouping of over 30Thatcherite Conservative MPs—in October 2011; the month prior, she had co-authoredAfter the Coalition with some of the people that would later join the FEG:Priti Patel,Kwasi Kwarteng,Dominic Raab andChris Skidmore. The book advocated for a number of policies, including a reduction in the top rate of tax to 40 pence per pound and the introduction of acarbon tax to reduce pollution.[67] On the publication, Truss wrote:
Our message must be that the state cannot do everything: while the government can help, it can never fully solve any individual's problems. The NHS[n 3] can't keep you healthy if you don't eat or exercise properly. A teacher can't get you the grades if you aren't prepared to work. Thejob centre can't find you work if you aren't prepared to write a CV.[68]
Another book by the same authors,Britannia Unchained, was published in September 2012. The book attracted controversy for claiming that "the British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor".[69] In 2022 Truss stated that the authors had each written a different chapter of the book; Raab had written the chapter which contained that claim.[69] Truss soon became well known amongst members of Parliament in Norfolk for her frequentphoto ops but was well respected amongst Conservative MPs, who recognised her as dedicated and hard-working, and by staff as attentive to local issues.[70] Some of Truss's earliest contributions to parliamentary discourse were on the subject of education:[71] she advocated for more rigorous teaching in school subjects, especially mathematics,[72] calling for mathematics lessons to be compulsory for all students until the age of 18 and expressing concern about a perceived overreliance on calculators fromprimary school pupils.[73][74] Truss criticised "[giving]media studies the same value asfurther maths" and suggested in 2011 that students should have to sitGCSEs for "5 traditional academic subjects".[75]
Education under-secretary (2012–2014)
[Y]ou're a great minister, I loved what you did, but we really couldn't go ahead with this one. You're one of the first ministers I've appointed to do something and you've just done it.
David Cameron speaking to Truss about her childcare proposal.[76]
In September 2012 Truss was appointed as parliamentary under-secretary of state for education and stepped back from the leadership of the FEG, with Kwarteng taking her place.[77] Truss was pleased with her appointment, and praisedMichael Gove, thesecretary of state for the department; she also formed a friendly rivalry with the futurehealth secretaryMatt Hancock.[78] In January 2013, Truss wrote awhite paper—More Great Childcare[79]—in which she proposed increasing the maximum number of childrenchildminders could look after at a time from three to four, as a means of reducing childcare costs.[80][81] The press, including Conservative-leaning papers likeThe Daily Telegraph andThe Times, were largely hostile to the plan. The former claimed that prices would not fall; the latter claimed that "her appointment signal[led] a rapid deregulation of the sector"; and theGuardian columnistPolly Toynbee challenged Truss to demonstrate how to care for so many children on her own.[80][82] Following a negative response fromtrade unions and childminders, Truss met with the deputy prime minister,Nick Clegg, who told her that "some of this is fine" but the maximum childminder increase went "much too far", and advised her to revise the proposal;[83] Truss ignored Clegg and pushed ahead with the plan, angering Clegg, who then blocked the proposals.[84][85][86] Truss also announced proposals to reformA-levels by concentrating exams at the end of two-year courses and said that Britain should attempt to "out-educate" countries in Asia.[76][87][88]
Environment secretary (2014–2016)
Official portrait, 2014
In July 2014 duringa cabinet reshuffle, Truss was appointedsecretary of state at thedepartment of environment, food and rural affairs (Defra);[89] the changes to the Cabinet made it one third women.[90] She was originally to be made a minister of state, but Cameron changed his mind on the morning of the reshuffle.[91] Her predecessorOwen Paterson "stormed out" of Cameron's Commons study when told he was to be dismissed; nevertheless, he gave Truss his phone number and offered his support.[92] Paterson was dismissed partly because of hisculling plans for badgers with tuberculosis, which Truss later supported.[93][94] Early actions at the department included setting up a "food crime unit" to prevent incidents similar to the2013 horse meat scandal, approving planning for theThames Tideway Tunnel and development ofFlood Re, a scheme designed to insure homes at a high risk of flooding.[95]
According to the academicDieter Helm, Truss, having "no obvious interest" in environmental matters, saw Defra instead as "but a first step on a political ladder she wanted to climb upasap".[96] She was, along with the Treasury, keen to cut the budgets of bodies such asNatural England and theEnvironment Agency, placing them under stricter direct departmental control:[97]Rory Stewart, one of Truss'sjunior ministers during her second term as environment secretary, claimed that she saw the department "very much in terms of budgets [and] cuts".[98] Under Truss, Defra launched a ten-year strategy to counter falling bee populations,[99] approved the limited temporary lifting of aEuropean Union ban on the use of twoneonicotinoidpesticides[100][101] and cut subsidies forsolar panels on agricultural land.[102] Following the2015 general election Truss was reappointed as environment secretary, although Helm writes that her second period at Defra "saw little change... do as little as possible was the political objective".[103]
At theConservative Party conference in September 2014 Truss made a speech in which she said "we import two thirds of our cheese. That is a disgrace" and "in December, I'll be in Beijing, opening up new pork markets".[104] Four days after Truss delivered the speech, parts of the video were featured on the satirical panel showHave I Got News For You;[104] the awkward, stilted delivery led her to be mocked and clips of the speech went viral online.[105] In March the following year Truss was one of two cabinet ministers to vote against the government's proposal to mandateplain packaging for cigarettes.[106] When she had been asked previously about the issue during a constituency meeting, Truss said "when it comes to things like this, I take a morelibertarian approach... I don't know if it's the government's role to regulate this".[107] During the2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, Truss endorsedRemain, saying that the Conservatives had "a golden chance to reform Britain over the next few years" and to avoid "[spending] that time negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union".[108][109] The referendum resulted in the defeat of Remain and Cameron's resignation; thehome secretaryTheresa May wonthe ensuing leadership election and subsequently became leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister.[110]
Justice secretary and lord chancellor (2016–2017)
Official portrait, 2017
In July 2016, Truss was appointed assecretary of state for justice andlord chancellor in thefirst May ministry, becoming the first female lord chancellor in the office's thousand-year history.[111][n 4] May's decision to appoint her was criticised by theminister of state for justice,Edward Faulks, who resigned from the government, questioning whether Truss would "have the clout to be able to stand up to the Prime Minister when necessary, on behalf of the judges".[114] Other Conservative members of Parliament criticised Truss's appointment owing to her lack of legal experience; in response, Truss's supporters accused one of the MPs,Bob Neill, of "thinly veiled misogyny".[115][116]
Before Truss's arrival, the budget of theMinistry of Justice—which is responsible for the administration ofBritish prisons—had been subjected to successive cuts under the coalition government. The cuts were blamed for the prisons' rising rates of violence owing to the consequential drop in prison officer numbers.[117][118] Truss lobbied thechancellor of the Exchequer,Philip Hammond, for £104 million in order to hire an additional 2,500 officers, which Hammond reluctantly delivered.[119][120][121] In November 2016, Truss was accused of failing to support the judiciary after three judges of theHigh Court were criticised by politicians and by theDaily Mail—which ran with the headline "Enemies of the People"—forruling against the government on whetherArticle 50—which would begin the process of leaving the EU—could be triggered without Parliament's approval.[122] A former lord chancellor,Charlie Falconer, suggested that, like her immediate predecessors, Truss lacked legal expertise and called for her to be dismissed as justice secretary as her perceived inadequate response "[signalled] to the judges that they have lost their constitutional protector".[123] She denied that she had failed to defend them, writing:
An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law, vital to our constitution and freedoms. It is my duty as lord chancellor to defend that independence. I swore to do so under my oath of office. I take that very seriously, and I will always do so.[124]
Chief secretary to the Treasury (2017–2019)
In June, following the2017 general election, May demoted Truss from justice secretary tochief secretary to the Treasury, meaning she could attend cabinet meetings but was not a full member;[125] Truss was enraged and called the demotion "incredibly unfair" and was, according to one of her friends, "seething for a good couple of days".[126][127] Despite what Cole and Heale describe as her "knocked" confidence from the demotion, Truss soon began to contribute to the department, using it, according to a Treasury worker, "like her own personal think tank" by asking for research and advice onmonetary policy.[128] In her first few months there, she was largely left out of decision-making processes by Hammond, who was described by Kwarteng as "quite a closed, centrally controlling chancellor"; nevertheless, Truss and the Chancellor were reported to have a good relationship.[129] Beginning in December 2017 she developed an enthusiasm for cultivating her presence onTwitter andInstagram; Truss began to plan ministerial visits aroundphoto ops for her social media.[130][131][132] Some of her civil servants were reported as finding her tenure as chief secretary "exhausting", owing to her work schedule and asking them multiplication questions, a tactic she had first employed as an MP.[107][133] Despite her governmental role, Truss remained relatively unknown by the public, with only seven per cent recognising her in March 2019.[134]
In June 2018, Truss gave a speech criticising rules and regulations which she said "just g[ot] in the way of consumers' choices and lifestyles", including the government's efforts to reduce alcohol consumption and unhealthy eating habits, and warned that raising taxes could see the Conservatives being "crushed" at the polls.[135] She also attacked colleagues who she said should realise "it's notmacho just to demand more money",[136] a jibe at the defence secretaryGavin Williamson, who had mounted a largely unsuccessful campaign for an extra £20 billion for his department, including threatening to write "Liz Truss blocked your pay" to everybody in the British Armed Forces.[137][n 5] Truss's speech, which also mocked Michael Gove, was criticised by Hammond;Ed Vaizey, an ally of Gove's; and Gove himself;[139] a speech she gave in November similarly joked about Matt Hancock, the newly appointed home secretary,Sajid Javid, and the health secretary,Jeremy Hunt.[140] Before May's resignation announcement on 24 May 2019 Truss had sought the opinion of her colleagues on whether she could credibly stand and courted media attention.[141][142] As it became apparent she could not win, she ruled herself out the day after May announced her resignation and subsequently endorsed the formerforeign secretaryBoris Johnson, the first minister to do so.[143]
After Johnson became prime minister, Truss was widely expected to be promoted because of her endorsement of his leadership campaign; it was thought she might have been appointed chancellor orbusiness secretary, but she was instead promoted to the position ofsecretary of state for international trade andpresident of the Board of Trade.[145] Following the resignation ofAmber Rudd, Truss was additionally appointedminister for women and equalities in September that year.[146] Shortly after becoming international trade secretary, Truss embarked on international trips to the US, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.[147] Truss met with her American counterpartRobert Lighthizer on her first trip to the US, where she gave what Cole and Heale describe as an "incendiary" speech on a potential US–UK trade deal. In Australia she made unscripted comments on their free-trade negotiations with Britain; both events were to the dismay of Downing Street officials.[148]Sebastian Payne described Truss's tenure as international trade secretary as "enthusiastic yet disruptive".[149] She continued to document her trips through social media.[150]
In February 2020,a reshuffle took place followingthe general election which had been held in December.[151] Truss feared that she would be dismissed after the comments she had made on her previous international trips, but Johnson decided to keep her in post following Javid's resignation as chancellor.[152] During her time at the department, Truss became notorious for leaking information.[153][154]Dominic Cummings, Johnson's chief adviser, later wrote that Truss was "the only minister I shouted at in Number 10" because of her "compulsive pathological leaking".[153] Truss's pursuit of a trade deal with the US concerned some in theNational Farmers' Union (NFU), which worried about an influx of lower-quality food products if passed; the NFU, along withThe Mail on Sunday, campaigned against such a deal in May.[155][156] TheCOVID-19 lockdowns eliminated international travel, and Truss instead attended virtual meetings.[157]
By early 2021, Truss's attempted US trade deal was deemed futile.[158] Instead, she focused onjoining theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which necessitatedfree trade agreements with Australia,[159] Japan[160][161][162] and New Zealand.[163] The Australia deal, finalised in December, was described by one of Truss's aides as "the hardest thing she's ever got through"; the New Zealand deal was agreed to shortly thereafter.[164] By mid-2021 she had started to ingratiate herself with the parliamentary party in anticipation of a leadership election.[165] In September plans for aNational Insurance increase were opposed by Truss; Downing Street expected her resignation, but Truss later decided against it.[166]
Foreign secretary (2021–2022)
Truss visitingRed Square the day prior to her 2022 meeting with Lavrov
In September 2021, during acabinet reshuffle, Johnson promoted Truss from international trade secretary to secretary of state for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development affairs, replacingDominic Raab, who had been criticised for holidaying inCrete during theFall of Kabul;[167] the move was despite Johnson finding Truss "flaky", according to the historianAnthony Seldon.[168] Truss became the second woman to occupy the office and kept the post of equalities minister.[169] Her early actions as foreign secretary included negotiating at theUnited Nations General Assembly for the release ofNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe;[170][n 6] meeting with her Japanese, Canadian and German counterparts; mounting an unsuccessful attempt to join theUnited States–Mexico–Canada Agreement;[172][173] and a visit to Estonia where—likeMargaret Thatcher inWest Germany—she was photographed in a tank, with the pictures generating both praise and mockery.[174][175]
[W]ho was the person to get the job? Someone who'd been in international trade and travelled around the world for two-and-a-half years. That was a natural promotion.
In early 2022, Truss's attention was directed towards abuild-up of Russian troops near theRussia–Ukraine border.[172] Truss supported a plan whichdeclassified a large amount of intelligence on Russia, releasing it to the public for the first time in order to weaken the Russian government in the event of an invasion.[172] On 10 February 2022, she met the Russian foreign ministerSergey Lavrov in Moscow, becoming the first British minister to go on a diplomatic trip there since the2018 Salisbury poisonings.[176] The meeting was, according to Payne, a "disaster": Lavrov described it as being "between the dumb and the deaf", and the two ministers spoke over each other and found it difficult to communicate.[177][178][179] Five days later, Truss stated that the world was on the "brink of war in Europe",[180] which transpired in the early hours of 24 February asRussia invaded Ukraine.[181] Before the invasion and during its immediate aftermath, Truss advocated forsanctions on Russia and encouraged otherG7 leaders to impose them;[175] in March 2022, she stated that the sanctions would end only in the event of a "full ceasefire and withdrawal".[182] Johnson praised Truss's actions, saying that "she was always terrific on Ukraine... other governmentsfaffed around... she was very clear and focused".[183]
Throughout the first half of 2022, Johnson's position as prime minister became increasingly unstable owing to successive scandalsdamaging his government and his personal reputation,[184] includingPartygate, which resulted in him and the chancellorRishi Sunak receivingfixed penalty notices.[185] During this time, Truss announced theNorthern Ireland Protocol Bill, which was intended to overhaul theNorthern Ireland Protocol, including measures to free goods produced in Great Britain from what she described as "unnecessary bureaucracy" entering Northern Ireland.[186] The plan was criticised by theEuropean Commission but was received well by theEuropean Research Group—aEurosceptic faction within the parliamentary Conservative party—and the right-wing Northern IrishDemocratic Unionist Party.[187][186][188] Amid mounting pressure on Johnson following theChris Pincher scandal, on 5 July Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Johnson again considered giving Truss the chancellorship, but decided against it owing to what Payne calls the "fragile geopolitical situation" and instead selectedNadhim Zahawi as Sunak's replacement.[189] However, Johnson's premiership proved untenable and on 7 July he announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party, a move which Truss called "the right decision".[190]
On 10 July, Truss announced her intention to run in theleadership election to replace Johnson. She pledged to cut taxes, said she would "fight the election as a Conservative and govern as a Conservative" and would take "immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living".[191] She said she would cancel a planned rise incorporation tax and reverse the increase in National Insurance rates, funded by delaying the date by which the national debt was planned to fall, as part of a "long-term plan to bring down the size of the state and the tax burden".[192] The political scientistVernon Bogdanor said in a 2022 article that "[Truss] appreciated that winning over the membership required not detailed policy proposals but the creation of a mood".[193]
Truss received 50 votes on the first ofConservative MPs' five ballots, with the number of votes cast for her increasing in each;[194] on 20 July[195] Truss and Sunak were chosen by the parliamentary party to be put forward to the membership for the final leadership vote, with Truss receiving 113 votes to Sunak's 137.[196] In the membership vote, the leader of the1922 Committee,[n 7]Graham Brady, announced on 5 September that 43 per cent of ballots were for Sunak and 57 per cent for Truss, making her the new leader.[198] In Truss's victory speech, she said that she would deliver on her campaign promises and pledged to win a "great victory" for the Conservatives at thenext general election.[198]
As the leader of the Conservative Party, the majority party in the House of Commons, Truss was appointed as prime minister byElizabeth II atBalmoral Castle on 6 September 2022 and began to select her cabinet ministers.[199][200][201]
Truss was the fifteenth and final Britishprime minister to serve under Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September, two days after appointing Truss.[206][207] She was told in the early morning that the Queen was unwell and likely to survive a "matter of hours, not days";[199] Truss ordered black clothes from her Greenwich home in anticipation of the Queen's death, as she had not yet had time to move her belongings to Westminster.[208] Upon Elizabeth's death, Truss delivered a statement outside10 Downing Street paying tribute to her:
Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign. Britain is the great country it is today because of her.... Through thick and thin, Queen Elizabeth II provided us with the stability and the strength that we needed. She was the very spirit of Great Britain, and that spirit will endure.[206]
On 8 September, in response to theongoing cost of living crisis, Truss announced theEnergy Price Guarantee, which was planned to cap average household energy bills at £2,500 per year,[213] costing between 31 and £140 billion for the two years it covered.[214][215][216][217] Truss, who announced the measure in the House of Commons, made an effort to keep the energy cap and the tax plan announcements—which the Chancellor was planned to unveil—separate.[218]
On 23 September, Kwarteng announced acontroversial mini-budget which proposed cutting taxation significantly, including abolishing the 45 per centrate of income tax and the proposedHealth and Social Care Levy, cuttingstamp duty and the basic rate ofincome tax and cancelling rises in National Insurance contributions andcorporation tax;[219] the package, which had been constructed by Truss and Kwarteng together,[220] was to be funded by borrowing and was intended to stimulategrowth.[207][221][222] The mini-budget was received badly by financial markets because it included temporary spending measures whilst permanently cutting tax rates.[223] It was blamed for the pound falling to its lowest ever rate against theUS dollar (US$1.033)[224] and prompteda response from theBank of England which, amongst other measures, bought upgovernment bonds; the public reaction was also broadly negative.[225][226][227] The mini-budget was criticised by theInternational Monetary Fund,[228][229] the American president,Joe Biden,[230] the Labour Party and many within Truss's party, including the senior politicians Michael Gove andGrant Shapps.[231][232]
I think it's ashambles and a disgrace... I hope all those people that put Liz Truss in Number 10, I hope it was worth it. I hope it was worth it for theministerial red box, I hope it was worth it to sit round the Cabinet table because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.
Charles Walker's remarks on the market fallout, subsequent government crisis and Conservative unpopularity.[237][238]
After initially defending the mini-budget, on 3 October Truss instructed Kwarteng to reverse the abolition of the 45 per cent income tax additional rate.[239] She later reversed the cut in corporation tax and dismissed Kwarteng, replacing him with Jeremy Hunt on 14 October.[232] Hunt reversed many of the remaining policies announced in the mini-budget, leading to further instability;[240][241] because of Truss's perceived weakness, he was described by some Conservative MPs and newspapers as thede facto prime minister.[242][243] During this time, Truss became increasingly unpopular with the public, and contributed to a large fall in support for the Conservatives;[244][245] in October, she became the most unpopular prime minister in British history,[196] with her personal approval rating recorded in one survey as nine per cent.[246] She was pilloried in national and international press as au-turner,[247][248] and a chaoticvote on fracking along with the resignation of Braverman as home secretary compounded a rapid deterioration of confidence in her leadership.[249] On 19 October, in response to aquestion by the leader of the opposition,Keir Starmer, Truss said that she was a "fighter and not a quitter", quoting a 2001 phrase byPeter Mandelson.[250]
Shortly before noon on 20 October, Truss's forty-fifth day in office, Brady held a meeting with Truss where she asked if she would be able to remain in office;[240][251] his response was "I don't think so, Prime Minister".[251] At 1:35 pm, Truss announced her resignation as the leader of the Conservative Party and as prime minister. She gave the following 89-second-long statement:
I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills. Putin's illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent. And our country has been held back by for too long by low economic growth. I was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change this. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting National Insurance. And we set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit. I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party. This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We've agreed there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week. This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country's economic stability and national security. I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen. Thank you.[252]
Heale describes a "funereal atmosphere" within the government in the days following her resignation statement.[253] She wassucceeded by Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party on 24 October and the next day advised the King to appoint him as the new prime minister;[254][255] Sunak went on to further reverse many of the economic measures she had made as prime minister but retained Hunt as chancellor.[256] Resigning on her fiftieth day, Truss became theshortest-serving prime minister in British history, surpassingGeorge Canning, who was prime minister for 119 days in 1827.[257][n 8] The short length of her premiership was the subject of much ridicule, includinga livestream of a head of lettuce, started the week prior, which invited viewers to speculate whether Truss would resign before the lettuce wilted.[258]
Truss was reselected as the Conservative candidate for South West Norfolk in February 2023[259] and in August that year, she submitted the list ofher resignation honours,[260] which were released in December to coincide with the2024 New Year Honours.[261] In early September 2023 she announced her memoirs about her time as prime minister,Ten Years to Save the West, which was published in April 2024.[262] That same month, Truss gave a speech to theInstitute for Government think tank in which she blamed "groupthink" amongst officials and the media for the collapse of her premiership.[263] Similarly, in October at the Conservative Party Conference, she held an event dubbed the "Great British Growth Rally" which was attended by hundreds of Conservative Party members, in contrast to government ministers who gave speeches to a hall which was, according to theTelegraph, "at times almost empty".[264] In February 2024 she co-launched thePopular Conservatism group with others including Jacob Rees-Mogg,Lee Anderson and Priti Patel and spoke at its inaugural event.[265] The2024 general election, held on 4 July, resulted in Trusslosing her seat, in which she was defending a majority of over 26,000, to the Labour challenger,Terry Jermy;[266] the result was described as aPortillo moment byThe Spectator, a right-leaning magazine.[267]
On 5 December 2025 Truss launched herThe Liz Truss Show, available onYouTube and other video services.[268][269]
During her time as a Liberal Democrat, Truss supported the abolition of the monarchy. In 2022 a video of a 19-year-old Truss at the 1994Liberal Democrat conference criticising the notion of people being "born to rule" resurfaced;[55] in an interview withLBC during her leadership campaign, Truss stated that "almost as soon as I made the speech, I regretted it".[274] In 2021 Truss stated that the Conservatives should "reject thezero-sum game ofidentity politics, [reject] the illiberalism ofcancel culture, and [reject] thesoft bigotry of low expectations that holds so many people back".[275] She voted tolegalisesame-sex marriage but has opposed the expansion oftransgender rights.[276] Truss spoke againstgender self-identification, stating that "medical checks are important" and that "only women have a cervix".[277] Despite initially supporting single-sex toilets being restricted on the basis of biological sex, she later said in February 2022 that the government was not interested in enacting such a measure.[278]
Truss supported the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum.[289] Since the referendum, Truss has supported Brexit, and publicly stated in 2017 that she had changed her mind.[290] During the July 2022 leadership election Truss said that "I was wrong and I am prepared to admit I was wrong".[291]
^ExcludingEleanor of Provence, who exercised the powers of the lord chancellor in 1253 but was not formally appointed to the office.[112][113]
^Williamson had also requested a five per cent rise in troops' pay.[138]
^Truss succeeded in March 2022 and called the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe andAnoosheh Ashoori the "most privileged moment" of her time in government.[171]
^The governing body of backbench Conservative members of Parliament.[197]
^Canning's premiership ended with his death, rather than the loss of a general election or by resignation.[252]
Haldenby, Andrew; Parsons, Lucy; Rosen, Greg; Truss, Liz (March 2009)."Fit for Purpose".Academia.edu.Reform.Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved7 September 2022.
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