New British Prime Minister Liz Truss / AP

LONDON

A huge admirer of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose ultra-liberal policies she wants to emulate, Liz Truss will now succeed her as the third woman to lead the British government.

Like Thatcher, nicknamed the “iron woman” for her leadership from 1979 to 1990, Truss, 47, represents the far right wing of the Conservative Party.

“I believe in a brighter and better future for Great Britain. I have a bold plan that will grow our economy and result in higher wages, more security for families and world-class public services,” he said at the close of a vote in which less than 200,000 Conservative Party members appointed him the new chairman of the government.

“I will do this by reducing taxes, pushing for reforms and eliminating bureaucratic procedures that hinder companies,” he said.

For almost a year he was Foreign Secretary and, like Thatcher, he was firm with the European Union (EU), determined to unilaterally change the post-Brexit agreement, and stubborn in the face of Argentina’s claims. In February this year, Truss defended the Falkland Islands as “part of the British family”.

“We completely reject the question of the sovereignty of the Falklands [como llaman los británicos a las islas]”, he cited as an example when he was still the head of British diplomacy after the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

He also defended the Chinese regime for its human rights abuses and against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He even imitated Thatcher by posing in a Russian fur hat on Red Square in February, during a trip to Moscow to try to dissuade the Russian president from invading Ukraine.

His appointment as head of Foreign Affairs has been both an impetus and a means for his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to try to curb the ambitions of this rising figure who now succeeds him in Downing Street.

But before that, he had entrusted her with a Foreign Trade portfolio, a position in which Truss became the face of UK trade negotiations after Brexit.

It was a change of direction for a woman who had defended Britain’s stay in the European Union during the 2016 referendum before saying she saw a huge economic opportunity in Brexit.

He worked to forge new alliances and conclude free trade agreements with countries such as Japan and Australia, but failed to strike a major trade deal with the US that London coveted. Similarly, some of his statements and stances do not appear to be well received by the Joe Biden administration.

Born on July 26, 1975, married with two daughters, “Liz is not afraid to speak her mind,” boasts her website.

His childhood friends and his college friends at Oxford, where he majored in politics and economics, remember a provocative but low-key student who did not emerge as a candidate for prime minister.

Truss grew up in a very leftist environment and at Oxford he led the youth group of the centrist Liberal Democrat Party, where he began to show strong political views. After a decade in the private sector, primarily as commercial director for companies including energy company Shell, he first served on the board in southeast London and then became a member of parliament in 2010. In 2012 he entered government and held various ministries. (AFP)