Truss surges ahead, wins key backers in race to be next UK prime minister
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s bid to become Britain’s next prime minister got a major boost Aug. 1 when she received the backing of junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, whom Truss narrowly defeated to make it to the final two candidates vying to replace Boris Johnson.
About 180,000 party members across the country will now decide whether Truss or former finance minister Rishi Sunak will be the next leader of the Conservative Party, and hence prime minister.
Mordaunt joins other senior ministers who have backed Truss, including Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and finance minister Nadhim Zahawi.
Polls give Truss an edge with Tory members, though Sunak is more popular with the general public, who don’t have a say in the race. On July 31, Sunak said he would slash the basic rate of income tax by 20% by 2029 in a potentially make-or-break throw of the dice.
The winner will be announced Sept. 5 and automatically become prime minister. (Reuters, AP)
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