Who is Liz Truss? Tory hardliner struggling to get to grips with life as PM

Conservative Party stalwart who served three leaders says she has 'a clear vision' for Britain

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, addressing Parliament for the first time since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies. Here, 'The National' looks at her time in power so far. AFP

Liz Truss speaks to Grant Shapps at Downing Street as he is appointed Home Secretary, after the resignation of Suella Braverman. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

A mural by artist Ciaran Gallagher in Belfast is updated to reflect Liz Truss's current political troubles. PA

Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announcing tax and spending measures at the House of Commons in London, with Liz Truss sitting on the bench behind him. AFP

Liz Truss gives a speech after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer. Reuters

A protest by climate change group Extinction Rebellion in central London. Ms Truss has said the group is part of an 'anti-growth coalition' with trade unions and the main opposition Labour Party. AFP

Ms Truss has come under increasing pressure during her short time as prime minister. AFP

An Extinction Rebellion protest outside Downing Street on the day Mr Kwarteng was removed from the government. AP

Ms Truss with members of the England women's football team and the European Championship trophy in Teddington, south-west London. Getty

Ms Truss arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. AP

Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary wave after her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. AP

Liz Truss gives a speech at the Conservative Party Conference. EPA

Ms Truss meets with Mr Kwarteng, chancellor of the exchequer at the time. Photo: Andrew Parsons / CCHQ

Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham. AFP

Ms Truss meets US President Joe Biden for talks at the UN headquarters in New York. PA

Ms Truss delivers a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. AP

The British prime minister holds a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. Reuters

Ms Truss meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN headquarters in New York. Reuters

Ms Truss speaks to the media during her visit to the Empire State building in New York. AP

Britain's new leader speaks during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, London. PA

Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary observe a minute's silence at Number 10 Downing Street following the death of the queen. Reuters

Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Truss leave after a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. AFP

Ms Truss joins the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and selected MPs to take the oath and swear allegiance to King Charles III in the House of Commons chamber. PA

King Charles during his first audience with Ms Truss at Buckingham Palace, London, following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images

Ms Truss gives a reading during a service of prayer and reflection, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Getty Images

The British prime minister makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street in London following the queen's death. Bloomberg

Ms Truss speaking during her first weekly Prime Minister's Questions session at the House of Commons in London. AFP

Front pages of a selection of British national newspapers, each leading with a story about Ms Truss becoming Britain's new prime minister. AFP

People walk past an image in central London of Ms Truss on the side of a protest bus calling for a citizens' assembly. Reuters

Ms Truss holds her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. Reuters

Ms Truss speaks at Downing Street on the day she took over as prime minister from Boris Johnson. EPA

Ms Truss poses with her husband Hugh O'Leary at Downing Street before entering as prime minister for the first time. EPA

Ms Truss is welcomed by staff in Downing Street as she enters the famous prime ministerial offices for the first time. Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

New Health Secretary Therese Coffey and Number 10 staff shelter from a downpour as they wait for Ms Truss to arrive in Downing Street. PA

Liz Truss makes a speech outside 10 Downing Street, London, after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister and form a new government. PA

Queen Elizabeth II greets the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Ms Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The queen invited Ms Truss to become prime minister and form a new government. Getty Images

Liz Truss became the third woman to enter Downing Street as British Prime Minister on September 6 after running a more successful campaign for Conservative leadership than Rishi Sunak.

The victory, by 81,326 votes from party members to Mr Sunak's 60,399, put her in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

Ms Truss, 47, became a strong contender to replace Boris Johnson early in the race, thanks to her public image as a Brexit-supporting libertarian who opposes high taxes and wasteful spending.

But after taking the reins, she has faced immediate difficulties. Queen Elizabeth II died two days later, beginning a period of mourning and frustrating Ms Truss's ability to plan for the early days of her term in office.

Racing to catch up, she sent Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to announce a radical shake-up of the economy to fuel growth but in doing so sent the pound tumbling, rocked the FTSE and handed a record poll lead to the Labour opposition.

Her first Conservative party conference has been riddled with ill-discipline and there are already rebellions from within and outside her Cabinet. Some suggest they would consider another leadership change if matters do not improve quickly.

Early years

Born in Oxford to a maths professor father and a teacher mother, Ms Truss came from a Labour-leaning family.

During her younger years, she joined her parents on anti-Thatcher demonstrations and as a teenager progressed to the Liberal Democrats' youth and student wing, frequently taking part in protests.

The politically minded and ambitious Ms Truss became president of the Oxford University Lib Dems then joined the Conservatives after she graduated.

She spent more than a decade in the private sector, primarily as a management accountant and then as deputy director at the right-wing think tank Reform.

She is married to accountant Hugh O'Leary and the couple have two daughters, Frances and Liberty.

Ms Truss spent two years as a Conservative councillor for Greenwich borough in south-east London before being elected as MP for South-West Norfolk in 2010.

She lives with her husband and children in a three-bedroom detached home in the market town of Thetford in her constituency. She frequently stays at her second home in Greenwich.

From Remainer to Brexiteer

Ms Truss voted “remain” in the 2016 Brexit referendum, only to later advocate the UK leaving the EU.

Promoting herself as prime ministerial material, Ms Truss took to Twitter to say she had a clear vision for Britain and possessed “the experience and resolve to deliver it”.

Her zeal for limited government resulted in her pledge during the early stages of her campaign to “start cutting taxes from day one” and reverse a planned National Insurance increase.

That stance played well with the Conservative party base but raised eyebrows among others, who feared such promises would make the party seem naive on fiscal matters.

She has served under three prime ministers — David Cameron, Mrs May and Mr Johnson.

The latter found a staunch ally in Ms Truss and, in September 2021, rewarded her for her loyalty with a promotion from international trade secretary to foreign secretary.

New PM's tough stance on Russia

Since being appointed to head the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Ms Truss's outspoken stance against Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been seen as an example of her no-nonsense approach to challenging issues on the international stage.

A few weeks before Russian troops entered Ukraine, Ms Truss arrived in Moscow for crisis talks with her counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Before the summit, she posted a tweet demanding Russia withdraw more than 100,000 troops from the boundaries with Ukraine “or face severe consequences”, and said an incursion would be “a huge mistake”.

Her combative nature and warning about the possibility of a conflict between Russia and the West after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine landed her in hot water.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned what he called “absolutely unacceptable” remarks about possible “clashes” between Nato and Russia.

He said comments by Ms Truss and others had fuelled Moscow's decision to put its nuclear arsenal on a “special regime of combat duty”.

Channelling Margaret Thatcher

Echoing her political idol Thatcher, Ms Truss has stressed the need to support democracies and said the West must “face down global aggressors” such as China and Russia.

She has, time and again, been compared to Thatcher. She has been emulated her staged photo opportunities by posing with a calf, riding in a tank and wearing a fur hat during a diplomatic trip to Moscow.

Mr Kwarteng was among the first Tory MPs to publicly back Ms Truss's bid for No 10. Tipped to become chancellor of the exchequer in her Cabinet, he said her libertarian stance was one of the reasons he decided to support her.

“Liz’s basic instinct on tax is right … She doesn’t think people should be paying increasingly higher taxes to pay for higher spending”, Mr Kwarteng said.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg also backed Ms Truss's campaign, cementing her position as the arch-Brexiteers' candidate of choice.

In the past, she has put forward her Brexit credentials, looking ahead to a “confident, outward-looking, patriotic and positive” future for the UK.