Queen Elizabeth II appoints Liz Truss as Britain’s new Prime Minister.
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Queen Elizabeth II formally appointed Conservative Party leader Liz Truss as Britain’s new Prime Minister, becoming the third female Head of the Government in her country, on Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary in the outgoing Boris Johnson’s government, Truss, 47, traveled to meet the 96-year-old monarch at her Balmoral Castle residence in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the Queen formally asked her to form a new government.
Earlier, the media reported Johnson submitted his resignation to the Queen, who is currently at Balmoral, her retreat in Aberdeenshire, for her annual vacation.
Following her royal audience, Truss will fly straight to 10 Downing Street in London to deliver her inaugural speech as the new Prime Minister before unveiling some key Cabinet posts.
On Monday, Truss defeated the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (2020-22) to take charge as Britain’s new Prime Minister.
Attorney-General Suella Braverman will probably remain the only Indian-origin MP in her top team. The Goan-origin, former leadership contender might be promoted to replace Priti Patel, who resigned as Home Secretary on Monday evening.
After enjoying a prominent role in the outgoing Boris Johnson Cabinet as one of his closest allies, Indian-origin Patel confirmed that “from the backbenches, I will champion many of the policies and causes that I have stood for both inside and outside of government.”
Rishi Sunak, the Indian-British son-in-law of IT behemoth Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy, who lost his Tory leadership bid 57-43 percent, said he was “proud” of the campaign he ran and indicated he wouldn’t serve in a Truss-led Cabinet if offered a job.
Among the other key posts in the new Cabinet, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, a close Truss ally, is being tipped as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Education Secretary James Cleverly might be promoted to take over Truss’ last portfolio of Foreign Secretary.
Other former leadership hopefuls such as Pakistani-British Sajid Javid might be offered the post of Northern Ireland Secretary, and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi could be shifted to the role of Cabinet Office minister, the reports said.
Some incumbent ministers, such as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, may still retain their jobs. Therese Coffey, a close friend of Truss, could replace Steve Barclay as Health Secretary.
According to the British media reports, besides the Cabinet, a widespread change of guard is also due within Downing Street, with some of Johnson’s senior-most aides set for an exit or reshuffle.
