Tenacious like May, liberal like Thatcher: Liz Truss, third female tenant of 10 Downing Street

Liz Truss formally became British Prime Minister on Tuesday, September 6, after being received by Queen Elizabeth II who entrusted her with the task of forming a government in a United Kingdom in the midst of an economic and social crisis.

At 47, she becomes the third woman to hold the post of Prime Minister in the history of the United Kingdom.

The former foreign minister won with 57% of the vote against her former finance colleague Rishi Sunak (43%), following an internal vote in the conservative party, triggered by the resignation in early July of Boris Johnson, cornered by repeated scandals.

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Remaining faithful to the end to "BoJo", whom she made applaud in her victory speech, Liz Truss enters Downing Street in an explosive economic and social context (inflation which exceeds 10%, exorbitant rise in bills for energy planned for the fall, strikes that are spreading, etc.).

Moreover, if she is popular with the conservatives, less than a fifth of the British (19%) trust her to act in the face of the crisis of the cost of living, according to a YouGov poll published on Monday.

In video, Elizabeth II and the new Prime Minister Liz Truss meet at Balmoral

The new Thatcher

Liz Truss will take up residence this Tuesday at 10 Downing Street, three years after Theresa May, and more than thirty years after the indestructible Margaret Thatcher.

Member of the

like both politicians, she is described as as tenacious as the former.

Appointed at the head of a country in crisis, Theresa May had, in fact, had to arm herself and stand up at all costs: exit the discretion that we knew her before and make way for fierce determination, until the Brexit be settled.

As for the Iron Lady, to whom Liz Truss prefers to refer, the comparisons are going well.

It must be said that the new head of government is, like Thatcher, a champion of free trade.

Despite the galloping inflation and the many social movements linked to the question of wages affecting the United Kingdom, she promised during her campaign "to lower taxes and not distribute subsidies".

On the fashion side, again, Liz Truss multiplies the nods to Margaret Thatcher, especially during a debate in July, when she opted for a white shirt with an ascot collar, very similar to the one Margaret Thatcher wore in 1979 during a TV show.

A comparison which is not to the taste of the new Prime Minister whom she denounces as “frustrating”, noting that none of her predecessors had to suffer from this little game.

From a leftist family

Born on July 26, 1975 in Oxford, Mary Elizabeth Truss (known as Liz Truss) grew up in a family that she herself describes as “very left-wing”.

His father is a professor of mathematics at the university.

His mother, a nurse and teacher, joined the ranks of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

As

notes , her parents are “horrified” when they learn that their daughter is a member of the Conservative Party.

At school too, "I didn't know any conservatives," the politician recalled a few years ago.

All my teachers were Labor sympathizers.”

Against the monarchy?

In 1993, Liz Truss joined the prestigious University of Oxford.

She studied political science, philosophy and economics there.

At the same time, the young Briton chaired the group of Liberal Democrat activists on campus and positioned herself in favor of the abolition of the monarchy in the United Kingdom.

“We believe in opportunity for all.

We do not believe that people are born to govern, ”declares the student in 1994, during a conference of the Liberal Democrats in Brighton (United Kingdom), recalls the BBC.

Words that the member of the

would later describe as "a mistake".

"People may know that I have a somewhat questionable past," she said in August to a conservative audience.

“We all make mistakes, we all had teenage misadventures.

Some people have sex, use drugs and listen to rock'n'roll.

I joined the Liberal Democrats.

I'm sorry."

A “Destiny’s Child Feminist”

The third woman to hold the post of

, Liz Truss describes herself as a “Destiny’s Child-esque feminist,” as she said at a BBC Politics event in 2019. “I believe they [women ] should be independent, that they should be encouraged to break down barriers, that they should be helped to achieve goals, whereas the Labor Party prefers to portray women as victims, who need special help and special treatment."

However, Liz Truss does not convince feminist associations.

And for good reason: even though she voted in 2019 in favor of decriminalizing abortion in Northern Ireland, she recently remained silent on the issue of abortion after the revocation of Roe vs.

Wade in the United States.

What is more, she is criticized, including in her own political camp, after the British government of which she is a member returned to the question of the protection of sexual and reproductive rights.

In a text signed by several countries, the mention of commitment

has been removed, observes Refinery29, which recently investigated whether the arrival of Liz Truss at the helm of the UK was a good thing for women.

"The reasons that led to the removal of the sexual and reproductive health sections are unclear, especially at such a late stage and apparently without consultation or discussion," Conservative MP Caroline Nokes warned in July.

This same parliamentarian is also concerned to have seen Liz Truss entrust Fiona Bruce, another MP known for her assumed anti-abortion positions, to represent her at the ForB Forum, an event devoted to the protection of religious freedoms, where Several personalities engaged against the rights of women and LGBTI+ people were present.

The concern of environmentalists

On the side of environmentalists, the profile of Liz Truss also tenses.

And for good reason, she remained rather vague on the energy crisis which is shaking the country, but promises "an announcement during the first week", underlines the

, without giving more details.

A supporter of shale gas and the exploitation of new oil deposits in the North Sea, the new Prime Minister also wants to lower subsidies on renewable energies.

What worries the associations of defense of the environment.

Case to follow.