The United Kingdom will have a new prime minister on Tuesday. Boris Johnson will Brexit his position as the beleagured top minister and in will step the current foreign minister Liz Truss.
Truss enters the domestic political fray as a firebrand, promising a “red tape bonfire” for the EU’s regulatory schemes that are wreaking havoc on continental Europe.
“EU regulations hinder our businesses and this has to change. In Downing Street, I will seize the chance to diverge from outdated EU law and frameworks and capitalise on the opportunities we have ahead of us,” she declared.
NOW – Liz Truss has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative party and will become Britain's next Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/TUKFpbVdCf
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 5, 2022
The domestic scene in Britain is one that should look familiar to foreign onlookers from across the pond.
In June, inflation on the island nation hit a 40-year high of 9.4 percent. Truss has promised British citizens relief from price increases by cutting taxes on day one.
This portends a fresh start for Brits that are worn out by Boris Johnson’s scandalous antics, as well as those who seek respite from Covid-inspired crackdowns and the EU’s heavy-handed hijinx.
However, as noted by Newsweek, Truss is a bit of a political chameleon and an unknown quantity, raising concerns that she could be overpromising only to be underdelivering.
“While President Biden has been a lifelong Democrat, Truss has changed party and her position on the key question of EU membership,” Newsweek notes. “She was once a member of the more centrist Liberal Democrats and in favor of the U.K. remaining in the EU.”
“A Liz Truss premiership marks a change in personnel more than policy for bilateral relations. As such, continuity is likely to be more the hallmark than change, even if Truss continues to maintain her sub-Mrs Thatcher act in office,” Robert Singh, a professor at the Department of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London, told Newsweek.
“To some extent, Truss is an unknown quantity,” he added. “Her chameleon-like evolution from Liberal Democrat and Remainer to hardline Tory Brexiteer is testimony to her political ambition more than her core convictions, which remain opaque and malleable.”
Truss may not be as eager to forge a “special relationship” with President Biden as some of her predecessors, the report continues, citing political observers.
The New York Times notes that Truss will be Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years and the third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. The report was quick to add the “fearsome array of problems” that greet her upon becoming prime minister.
“Double-digit inflation, a looming recession, labor unrest, soaring household energy bills and possible fuel shortages this winter — all will confront Ms. Truss as she moves into 10 Downing Street,” the Times reports. “She also must repair a party deeply divided after Mr. Johnson’s turbulent three-year tenure, which peaked in 2019 with a landslide general election victory but descended into unrelenting scandals after that.”
“I campaigned as a Conservative, and I will govern as a Conservative,” Ms. Truss said at her victory speech. “I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. Dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
Truss certainly knows how to speak Conservatives’ language; whether or not she will govern as a Conservative remains to be seen. But if Prime Minister Truss’s leadership can provide a contrast to the failed policies of the EU and of U.S. President Biden, the world would certainly benefit from a conservative prime minister following in the footsteps of the late, great, Margaret Thatcher.
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