Liz Truss has been announced as the next Prime Minister of the UK after beating opponent Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest.
Ms Truss, the current foreign secretary, will be handed the keys to Number 10 Downing Street on Tuesday after Boris Johnson officially tenders his resignation in a meeting with the Queen at Balmoral. The Cabinet minister had been widely tipped to be the next Conservative Party leader from early on in the leadership race.
Ms Truss defeated Mr Sunak with 81,326 votes to 60,399. The announcement was made by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs, at the QEII Conference Centre in central London today after thousands of Tory party members cast their votes before the deadline on Friday.