Liz Truss as the leader of the U.K.: will she hold the Prime Minister’s office until 2024?

Author

Olexandra Zakharova

Liz Truss, who won the Tory leadership race to become Britain’s new Prime Minister, presents herself as an heir to Margaret Thatcher.

Domestically, she promises to cut taxes and regulation, while in foreign politics, she’s taken a hard stance on Russia and the post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, the Financial Times wrote.

Liz Truss’s new Cabinet: who will be there?

Liz Truss will announce the new Cabinet on September 6. Photo: Getty Images

Rishi Sunak won’t be invited to the new government: Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to become the new Chancellor and has already pledged to be "fiscally responsible" despite Truss’s plans to cut taxes for businesses and a possible energy price cap for households.

James Cleverly will be promoted in his diplomatic career in the Cabinet to become Foreign Secretary. Attorney-general Suella Braverman is to hold the post of Home Secretary, replacing Priti Patel.

It is also expected that Johnson’s ally Jacob Rees-Mogg will become Business Secretary with responsibility for energy policy. Ben Wallace will stay at defense, while Truss’s ally Thérèse Coffey will become Health Secretary.

Boris Johnson would like to come back

Boris Johnson is not yet ready to leave politics. Photo: Getty Images

Liz Truss will be facing not only economic and foreign policy challenges: current polls suggest a defeat for the Tories at the 2024 election, so any big mistake she makes would result in a change of Prime Minister.

In particular, as sources close to Boris Johnson told the FT, he hasn’t given up hope of returning as the head of the Cabinet should Truss make a mistake.

Truss, who was elected MP in 2010, has already worked in Cabinets under three Tory Prime Ministers since 2016: David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson.

Johnson’s authority was undermined by Partygate, a scandal around parties in Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown. Allegations about Chris Pincher, the Tory deputy chief whip, having sexually assaulted guests of a private party, which Johnson allegedly knew of, became the last straw.

At the same time, his visits to Kyiv and rumors about Johnson’s possible appointment as NATO Secretary General are suggestive of the British outgoing PM’s unwillingness to quit politics.

Liz Truss has to hear the British youth

Liz Truss needs to pay attention to the youth. Photo: Getty Images

One more problem that the Conservatives should be worried about is the tendency of young people, who find themselves largely neglected, to turn toward authoritarian movements when seeking to solve their problems.

Will Tanner, the director of Onward, a think-tank, and former deputy head of policy at 10 Downing Street, wrote this in his column in the FT.

"Britain’s Conservatives will not be immune from discontented young people moving to the authoritarian right," he emphasized.

For the third time in six years, Tanner explains, the gerontocracy that is the Conservative party membership are selecting the UK’s next prime minister, since the party’s average age is 57 years, and only 6% of Tories are under the age of 25.

Would the authoritarian right topple the Tories?

Half of British youth are not against military rule. Photo: Getty Images

Young people across Europe are outraged over lacking a voice in decisions, the columnist points out.

"Across Europe, established center-right parties are being felled not by center-left opponents but by young people outflanking them on the authoritarian right," he pointed out.

In the U.K., Onward research found that the share of young people supporting a strong leader has doubled in the last 20 years, now standing above 60%.

Nearly half of 18–34-year-olds believe military rule would be a good way to run the country, up from 9% in 1999.

This all suggests that the next British Prime Minister, namely Liz Truss, needs a plan to convince young people of the inherent benefits of democracy.