Liz Truss has just won the leadership of the Conservative Party and therefore will become the new Prime Minister.
In what has felt a long and drawn out leadership election both she and her opponent Rishi Sunak have battled it out for the votes of Tory Party members. But now she will have to try and win the support of the country while navigating an increasingly brutal cost of living crisis.
To help you get to know the new woman running the country (and the third woman to occupy the role of PM) WalesOnline has put together this list of things you may not know about Liz Truss.
Read more: Live updates as Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak to be announced as UK's next PM
She has previously wanted to abolish the monarchy and legalise cannabis
Like her opponent Sunak and her three predecessors as PM (Johnson, May and Cameron) Liz Truss went to Oxford University. She was into politics then as well but at the time as a Liberal Democrat. She was President of Oxford University's Liberal Democrats, and only made the switch to the Tories when she graduated.
Some of her core political beliefs then were very different to what she says now. When she was running to be a Lib Dem policy development officer she said she wanted to legalise cannabis and abolish the monarchy. She wrote in her manifesto: "Everybody has the right to be treated with respect as a person, without discrimination, favouritism or patronising paternalism. That is why I campaigned against the monarchy and prohibition of cannabis. It is also why I want decentralised decision-making."
When asked about this view recently on LBC she said that "almost as soon as" she made the comments "I regretted it".
She comes from a very left-wing family
Her dad worked as an emeritus professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds and her mum was a Latin teacher as well as working as a nurse and bending a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Both have been described by their daughter as "to the left of Labour". He dad didn't help her campaign to be a Tory MP through her mum did.
She was best know for talking about cheese
She came to many of the public's attention for the first time when she gave a passionate speech about cheese, apples and pears. Looking straight down the camera she said: "We import two thirds of our cheese. That is a disgrace."
She claims to be driven by ideology
Liz Truss is a committed advocated for free markets and fewer employment laws. She claims it is this "ideology" that drives her. Speaking to Politico she said: “I’m probably one of the more ideological among my colleagues, in that that’s what motivates me." She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs who are a free-market collection of parliamentarians arguing for a more entrepreneurial economy and fewer employment laws.
She has published several books
Her ideological world view can be seen in her written work. She co-authored a book Britannia Unchained with her political allies Dominic Raab, Priti Patel and Kwasi Kwarteng 10 years ago. It was a controversial book which was Eurosceptic. A passage from it said: "The British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor. Whereas Indian children aspire to be doctors or businessmen, the British are more interested in football and pop music." She has since said that passage was written by Raab.
She went to a comprehensive school, but not everyone agrees with her assessment of it
During her campaign Truss has spoken often about her time attending a comprehensive school. The school itself is Roundhay School in a ‘leafy’ suburb of Leeds. It was he she completed high school and her A-Levels.
On Thursday, July 14, Ms Truss said during her campaign launch she said that "many of the children I was at school with were let down by low expectations, poor educational standards and a lack of opportunity" adding in a TV debate on July 17 "the reason I am a Conservative is that I saw kids at my school being let down in Leeds."
There has been some controversy over the implication that Roundhay wasn't a good school.
Ms Truss also implied her school was located in England’s ‘red wall’ during her time there – though its constituency Leeds North East had a Conservative MP from 1955 until 1997 when Labour’s Fabian Hamilton took over.
Writing in the Guardian Martin Pengelly wrote: "We were both taught well by the same good teachers, from whose work I have benefited every single day since I left the school – as I am sure Truss has too.". Others have rejected her claim that the school was in a "red wall" seat.
She hates losing
It seems that from a young age the new Tory leader has liked winning. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Profile, her brother said the family enjoyed playing board games. However he claimed his sister hated losing so much that she would often disappear rather than risk not winning.
She was marked for success by David Cameron
Under David Cameron Truss was was added to the party's "A List". The list was drawn up by Conservative Central Office and aimed broaden the number of Conservative Members of Parliament, potential peers and MEPs from minority groups and women as well (though it also included other preferred people to be candidates as well). This led to he been selected as the candidate for South West Norfolk in October 2009.
An affair almost saw her deselected
She faced a battle against de-selection by the constituency Tory association, after it was revealed she had had an affair with Tory MP Mark Field some years earlier. David Cameron personally intervened to defend her against her local party.
The Times reported that just hours after Ms Truss’s selection, a Sunday newspaper published a tale of her affair in 2004 with Field, then the Conservative culture spokesperson, which cost him his marriage and, not long after it was revealed in May 2006, his frontbench role.
It seems that the frustration from the local association wasn't the affair itself, but the fact they hadn't been aware of it and interference from party HQ. On member told the Times: "We do have sex in Norfolk, it’s no big deal. If the committee were told of her indiscretion in the past it would have been fine, but it was this blatant secrecy. Do they take us for complete idiots in Norfolk?”
The attempt to deselect here was defeated by 132 votes to 37.
Her first name is Mary
Her full name is Mary Elizabeth Truss but has been known by her middle name from a young age.
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