Oxford-born, Liz Truss began her ascent to political prominence as a South West Norfolk-based Conservative MP in 2010. She became the first female lord chancellor in 2016 and the first female Conservative foreign secretary in 2021, making her the youngest female cabinet member in British history. In September 2022, Truss defeated Boris Johnson to become the new leader of the United Kingdom, although her administration was dogged by disastrous economic policies. Six weeks later, she made her resignation official.
How Old Is Liz Truss?
Mary Elizabeth Truss was born in Oxford, England, on July 26, 1975.
Early Years and Education
Truss, the oldest of four children born to father John, a professor of mathematics, and mother Priscilla, a nurse and teacher, spent a year in Poland before relocating to Paisley, Scotland, with her family when she was four years old. She began participating in political protests there with her mother, a campaigner for nuclear disarmament member, while attending West Primary School.
Truss spent a second year abroad in British Columbia, Canada, after which he returned to England to enroll in Leeds’ comprehensive Roundhay School. She later complained about her Roundhay education, but her excellent marks led to her entrance into Merton College at the University of Oxford.
Truss was a fervent supporter of Oxford’s Liberal Democrats and eventually became their president. He pushed for the legalization of marijuana and publicly attacked the monarchy in one speech. Before earning a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in 1996, she was also active in Oxford’s Hayek Society, which honored the contributions of Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek.
Early Career
In 1996, Truss began working for Shell as a graduate trainee and quickly became a commercial manager. She next moved on to Cable & Wireless, a communications firm, where she worked as the director of economics until 2005.
As her political aspirations solidified, Truss rose to the position of deputy director of the public services think tank Reform from 2008 to 2010, where she contributed to publications on economic and educational policy.
Member of Parliament
Truss unsuccessfully campaigned for the House of Commons from Hemsworth in 2001 and Calder Valley in 2005 after joining the Conservative Party in 1996. After enduring rumors of an affair with a political mentor, she was elected as a councillor for Eltham South in 2006. In 2010, she eventually secured a highly sought-after position as an MP from South West Norfolk.
The Free Business Group, which Truss quickly founded with like-minded MPs, made headlines in 2012 when it published Britannia Unleashed and claimed that British employees were “among the worst idlers in the world.” She was appointed under secretary of state for education and child care around that time, and in early 2014, a widely publicized trip to Shanghai to look into why Chinese students performed so well in math and science further enhanced her prominence.
Cabinet Roles
With her nomination as secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs in July 2014, 38-year-old Truss became the youngest female cabinet member in British history. Although she aimed to attract more tech-savvy workers to the food business, she was arguably best recognized at the time for categorically labeling the importation of cheese from the U.K. as a “disgrace.” Prior to later switching allegiances to support the Brexit movement, Truss used her platform to advocate for the U.K. to “remain” in the European Union.
In July 2016, Truss broke another another barrier when she was appointed as the first female lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice. She struggled to defend the courts against tabloid attacks, therefore her tenure at the department was brief. She found a better home for her free-market beliefs when she was promoted to chief secretary to the Treasury the following year and developed a frequent social media presence.
In August 2019, Truss was appointed secretary of state for international trade and president of the Board of Trade. She has since negotiated post-Brexit agreements with more than fifty-dozen nations. Around this period, she was also appointed minister for women and equalities, despite accusations that she ignored transgender people and shirked her duties.
Truss became the first female party member to hold the position of secretary of state for international, Commonwealth, and development affairs in September 2021 as a result of another cabinet reorganization. Truss secured the safe repatriation of British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori to their families and took a harsh stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but she also risked instability with her declared willingness to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol.
On July 7, 2022, three days after Boris Johnson submitted his letter of resignation, Truss entered the race to lead the Conservative Party and serve as prime minister until the next general election. After numerous rounds of voting among Tory MPs, Truss constantly lagged behind former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, but 57 percent of the party’s rank-and-file supported the foreign secretary, and on September 5, 2022, Truss was declared the winner of the contest.
Prime Minister
Truss received plaudits for maintaining her composure in public as the world mourned the passing of the longest-reigning British monarch shortly after formally accepting the position of prime minister during what turned out to be Queen Elizabeth II’s final royal engagement.
After then, the new premier’s situation quickly deteriorated. The tax cuts included in Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini-budget” startled investors after she pledged to restrict home energy costs for a period of two years. As a result, the Bank of England intervened to control the soaring interest rates and the falling value of the British pound.
After canceling the proposed tax cuts for wealthy individuals and businesses, Truss had Kwarteng resign in the middle of October. Yet by abolishing the basic income tax rate cut and cutting the energy bill freeze from two years to six months, new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt further undermined her plan.
On October 19, Home Secretary Suella Braverman submitted her resignation after admitting to using a personal email account for work-related conversations. Later that day, it was claimed that Conservative MPs intimidated their peers to vote in favor of a government fracking bill in the House of Commons.
Resignation
Truss declared on October 20, 2022, that she was resigning as the head of the Conservative Party and would give up her position as prime minister once a successor had been selected.
She admitted her errors and said they occurred “at a period of immense economic and international volatility.” She added that she was unable to fulfill the Conservative Party’s mandate for her election.
On her 45th day in office, Truss announced her resignation, making her the UK prime minister with the shortest tenure ever.
Husband and Children
Truss met accountant Hugh O’Leary at a Conservative Party conference in 1997. They survived an awkward first date in which he sprained his ankle and were married in 2000, their union producing daughters Liberty and Frances.