Liz Truss won the race to be the UK’s new prime minister with the support of fewer Conservative members than any of her predecessors under the party’s current leadership rules.
She defeated Risi Sunak in the Tory leadership race with 57 per cent of the members’ vote, a tighter margin of victory than David Cameron and Boris Johnson in their respective wins.
Her win is the tightest margin in Conservative history since the current rules, requiring the leader to be appointed by party members, were introduced in 1998.
The race between Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak was significantly tighter than Boris Johnson’s race against Jeremy Hunt, where Mr Johnson won with 66 per cent of the vote compare to Mr Hunt’s 33 per cent.
David Cameron also won with a larger margin than Ms Truss. Mr Cameron won with 68 per cent of the vote against 32 per cent of votes won by his opponent David Davis.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who was elected Tory leader in 2001, beat his rival Kenneth Clarke with 60.7 per cent of the vote.
Theresa May was annointed prime minister when Andrea Leadsom fell out of the leadership race.
After being announced as the next prime minister, Ms Truss said that she would “use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party.”
“I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party: our brilliant member of parliament and peers; our fantastic councillors... and activists and members right across our country. Because my friends, I know that we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024.”
Out of 172,437 eligible voters, 82.6 per cent casted ballots in the contest between Mr Sunak and Ms Truss, with Mr Sunak gaining 60,399 votes compared to Ms Truss’ 81,326.
It means Ms Truss becomes PM with the backing of 47 per cent of eligible Tory voters - less than the threshold she plans to require for unions to be able to call a strike in a crackdown on workers’ rights.
Paul Goodman, editor of ConservativeHome, said there had been hopes in the Truss camp earlier in the campaign that it could be a 70-30 result. He warned that “anything for her under 60 per cent is bound to be read as a disappointment.”
Reacting to the result, Mr Sunak thanked everyone who had voted for him in the campaign. “I’ve said throughout that the Conservatives are one family,” he said. “It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer congratulated Ms Truss but said that “after twelve years of the Tories all we have to show for it is low wages, high prices, and a Tory cost of living crisis.”
Libdem leader Ed Davey said that “under Liz Truss, we’re set to see more of the same crisis and chaos as under Boris Johnson.” He also called for the energy price hike to be scrapped and an early general election.
