Liz Truss is expected to be announced as the new prime minister today after a gruelling six-week Tory leadership campaign.
Voting among the estimated 200,000 Tory members charged with choosing Boris Johnson’s successor closed on Friday, and either the foreign secretary or Rishi Sunak will be declared the victor at 12:30pm by 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady.
Whoever is then handed the keys to No 10 at Balmoral on Tuesday “will face one of the most difficult inheritances of any prime minister” in the past 50 years, warned former No 10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell.
Several reports have suggested Ms Truss is strongly considering freezing energy bills to help households through the cost-of-living crisis if she wins the keys to No 10, with The Times suggesting the package could be on the scale of the Covid furlough scheme introduced by Mr Sunak while chancellor.
Senior Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown urged his party to support whatever energy plan the next prime minister announces, warning that “divided parties do not win elections”.
