Liz Truss
Who was Liz Truss?
Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister for 45 days in 2022, the shortest tenure in British history, before resigning due to economic turmoil from her mini-budget.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Liz Truss (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Mary Elizabeth Truss was born on 26 July 1975 in Oxford, England. She went to Roundhay School in Leeds and studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Merton College, Oxford, where she was president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats. Despite this, she joined the Conservative Party in 1996. After graduating, she worked at Royal Dutch Shell and Cable & Wireless as an accountant before moving into public policy work. She also worked as deputy director of the think tank Reform, where she developed her free-market economic views.
Truss became the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk in the 2010 general election after two unsuccessful attempts. As a backbencher, she co-founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs and co-wrote several policy papers and books, including Britannia Unchained, advocating for a more competitive British economy. She climbed the government ranks under three Conservative prime ministers. David Cameron appointed her Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education in 2012, later making her Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Although she supported Remain before the 2016 Brexit vote, she backed Brexit after the outcome.
Under Theresa May, Truss served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, the first woman to hold this position in its long history. She was later moved to Chief Secretary to the Treasury after the 2017 general election. Boris Johnson later made her Secretary of State for International Trade and then Foreign Secretary in 2021, a position she held during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Her foreign policy roles and free-market views gained her strong support among Conservatives.
In September 2022, after Boris Johnson's resignation, Truss defeated Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest and became Prime Minister, appointed by Queen Elizabeth II shortly before the Queen's death. Her time as Prime Minister was marked by the economic impact of a mini-budget pushed by her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in September 2022. The package of tax cuts unsettled financial markets, dropped the pound to historic lows, and led to the Bank of England stepping in to stabilize the gilt market. Kwarteng was dismissed, and parts of the budget were reversed, but trust in Truss's government was lost.
On 20 October 2022, Truss announced her resignation after just 45 days as Prime Minister, making her the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history. She left her role as MP for South West Norfolk at the 2024 general election and lost her seat. After leaving frontline politics, she stayed active as a commentator and advocate for low-tax, small-government conservatism, sharing her experiences in office and continuing to speak internationally on economic and political topics.
Before Fame
Liz Truss mainly grew up in Leeds and attended Roundhay School, a state comprehensive. Her parents leaned left politically, and she was influenced by progressive ideas in her youth. However, during her time at Oxford, she shifted significantly to the right. At Merton College, she studied philosophy, politics, and economics—degrees that are common stepping stones into British politics—and actively led the university's Liberal Democrat society.
After graduating, she spent several years in the corporate sector, working in accountancy and commercial roles at Royal Dutch Shell and Cable & Wireless. This background set her apart from career politicians who went straight from university to political research. Her time at the Reform think tank sharpened her focus on economic liberalization and public sector reform, forming the basis for the free-market positions she advocated throughout her political career.
Key Achievements
- Became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in September 2022 after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest.
- Served as the first woman to hold the office of Lord Chancellor in its thousand-year history, appointed in 2016.
- Co-authored Britannia Unchained and co-founded the Free Enterprise Group, shaping the free-market wing of the Conservative Party.
- Served as Foreign Secretary from 2021 to 2022, representing the United Kingdom during the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- Represented South West Norfolk as its Member of Parliament continuously from 2010 to 2024.
Did You Know?
- 01.Truss was president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats before joining the Conservative Party in 1996, having once publicly called for the abolition of the monarchy at a Liberal Democrat conference.
- 02.She was the first woman in over a thousand years of the office's history to serve as Lord Chancellor when appointed by Theresa May in 2016.
- 03.Her mini-budget of September 2022, which announced £45 billion in unfunded tax cuts, triggered such severe market instability that the Bank of England launched an emergency bond-buying programme to prevent pension fund collapses.
- 04.Truss's 45-day tenure as Prime Minister was shorter than the lettuce famously placed beside her image by the Daily Star newspaper, which the tabloid live-streamed online with the question of which would last longer.
- 05.She co-authored Britannia Unchained in 2012, a book that argued British workers were among the least productive in the developed world and called for sweeping economic deregulation.