”I will be the greatest friend for Ukraine.” Liz Truss promised to follow Johnson as prime minister

Author:
Anna Kholodnova
Date:

The British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, who is running for prime minister, said she would be Ukraineʼs "biggest friend" if she led the government and said she would immediately call the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Reuters writes about it.

The Prime Ministerial candidate and the current Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, who oversaw the imposition of sanctions against people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said she would work with allies to provide Ukraine with more weapons and humanitarian aid.

"As Prime Minister, I will be Ukraineʼs greatest friend — following in the footsteps of Boris Johnson — and I will be fully committed to Putinʼs defeat in Ukraine and strategic defeat, and to Russia being limited in the future," she stated.

"This conflict is hanging in the balance, and now is not the time to talk about concessions and compromises to a terrible dictator... I am the candidate the British people can trust regarding Ukraine, and whom they can trust to protect our freedom at home and abroad," added Liz Truss.

  • On July 7, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he was stepping down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party. He will serve as the head of the party and the government until a new one is elected. This was preceded by a series of scandals — Johnson was accused of organizing a party without observing the quarantine measures that the government introduced throughout Great Britain due to the coronavirus. He was also criticized for appointing Christopher Pincher, who was accused of harassing two colleagues. At the beginning of July, more than 50 members of his cabinet and high-ranking officials left Johnson due to scandals.
  • 11 officials applied for the position of the new British Prime Minister. Boris Johnson has not publicly announced his support for either.
  • Eight MPs made it to the first round: British Foreign Minister Liz Truss , former Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt , Junior Minister for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt , Attorney General Suella Braverman , former Minister of Finance Rishi Sunak , Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Tugendhat , former Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch and Finance Minister Nadhim Zahavi . After several rounds of elections , two candidates remained — now either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will become the new prime minister of Britain.
  • On July 21, the British Parliament went on vacation. During this time, members of the Conservative Party across the country (approximately 160 000 members) will vote by post for the new leader. The result will be announced on September 5.