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The UK will find out who will be its next prime minister on Monday, with Liz Truss the favourite to succeed Boris Johnson and lead the country as it battles a spiralling cost-of-living crisis.
The result will be announced at 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) after foreign minister Truss and her opponent, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, spent the summer rallying support among Conservative Party members who cast the final vote.
In polling among the estimated 200,000 Tory members eligible to vote, the 47-year-old has consistently been ahead of Mr Sunak, 42.
The leadership race began in July, after Johnson announced his resignation in the aftermath of a string of scandals and resignations from his government.
Truss described the eight-week campaign as “the longest job interview in history” to the BBC.
However, the vote may not be representative of general public opinion.
According to a YouGov poll conducted in late August, 52 percent of respondents thought Truss would make a “poor” or “terrible” prime minister.
43 percent said they didn’t trust her to deal with the pressing issue of rising living costs.
‘Worst in-tray ever’
Whoever wins faces “the worst in-tray for a new prime minister since Thatcher,” according to The Sunday Times.
The United Kingdom is in the grip of its worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, with inflation reaching double digits and energy prices skyrocketing as a result of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
According to surveys, millions of people face a painful choice between eating and heating this winter, with bills expected to rise by 80% from October to January.
“If I am elected Prime Minister, I will act immediately on bills and energy supply,” Truss said to the BBC on Sunday, declining to elaborate.
Truss campaigned on a promise to cut taxes and prioritise economic growth at a time when the UK is expected to enter a recession later this year.
She stated on Sunday that she would “present a full plan for how we are going to reduce taxes” and “get the British economy going” within a month.
Mr Sunak has promised more government assistance to help people pay their energy bills and has stated that lowering inflation will be his top priority, calling Truss’s tax-cutting plans reckless.
“Helping people with the cost of living and energy bills comes before anything else,” he told the BBC on Sunday.
Polls show public support for an early general election, and the Conservatives’ 12-year reign is under threat.
Truss was appointed foreign minister a year ago after serving in several departments, including education, international trade, and justice.
She began her political career as a teen member of the centrist Liberal Democrats before switching to the right-wing Conservatives.
She campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union in 2016, but quickly switched sides when Britons voted for Brexit.
Her fashion sense and love of photo opportunities (posing in a tank in Estonia and wearing a fur hat in Moscow) have earned her comparisons to Tory icon Thatcher.
Her sometimes stiff demeanour has softened, and allies have sought to soften her image by revealing her love of karaoke and socialising.
Highland rites
The announcement by Conservative Party officials on Monday of who will take over as leader sets in motion a series of events.
Boris Johnson will give his farewell speech at Downing Street on Tuesday.
He will then formally tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, who will appoint his successor in a ceremony known as the kissing of hands.
The 96-year-old monarch will appoint the prime minister at her Scottish retreat, Balmoral, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London, for the first time in her reign.
This comes as the queen has been plagued by mobility issues, forcing her to cancel a number of public appearances.
The next prime minister will be the 15th since Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne.
