Liz Truss beats Rishi Sunak in race to be new UK PM

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss defeated British Indian former Chancellor Rishi Sunak as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest on September 5. She will now go on to formally take charge as Britain's third female Prime Minister as Boris Johnson’s successor on September 6, after an audience with Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland.

The 47-year-old senior Cabinet minister was widely expected to beat the first politician of Indian heritage to compete for the top job at 10 Downing Street, but in the end her margin of victory was slimmer that predicted at 57.4 per cent to Sunak’s 42.6 per cent.

Sunak took to Twitter soon after: “Thank you to everyone who voted for me in this campaign. I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family.

“It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.”

Truss polled 81,326 votes, compared to Sunak's 60,399 in an election with a high turnout of 82.6 per cent from a total of 172,437 eligible Tory voters.

In her acceptance speech, Truss declared: "We will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver."

Now elected Conservative Party leader, Truss will have to wait for predecessor Boris Johnson to hand in his formal resignation to the Queen at Balmoral Castle. It will be followed soon after by Truss’ own audience with the 96-year-old monarch, after which she will begin announcing her new Cabinet on September 6.