[뉴스로 익히는 영어] How Liz Truss, Britain's next prime minister, went from anti-monarchist rebel to the next Margaret Thatcher

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'The most ambitious person many people had encountered': Meet Liz Truss, Britain's new prime minister

 

How Liz Truss, Britain's next prime minister, went from anti-monarchist rebel to the next Margaret Thatcher

Liz Truss was just 19 when she made her first major political appearance, calling for an end to the reign of the monarchy of the United Kingdom.

It was at the 1994 party conference of the Liberal Democrats, and the teenager was speaking as president of the party's Oxford University student movement.

Quoting former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, she said: "Everybody in Britain should have the chance to be a somebody, but only one family can provide the Head of State.

"We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all, we believe in fairness and common sense.

"We do not believe that people should be born to rule, or that they should put up and shut up about decisions which affect their everyday lives."

After the clip resurfaced in July this year, Ms Truss was asked when she realised that she did not want to abolish the monarchy.

"Almost immediately after I'd made that speech," she told reporters.

"I was a teenager at the time and I do believe that people who never change their mind on anything and think the same at 16 as they do at 46 are, well, first of all, they're not normal people like I am.

"And secondly, I've got the ability to learn from mistakes I've made, things that I've done that are wrong and move on."

On Tuesday Ms Truss will head to Balmoral to meet with the head of the monarchy, the Queen, and officially be sworn in as the 56th prime minister of the United Kingdom.

She will inherit the top job with the country facing a major cost of living crisis, lingering Brexit issues and a climate emergency. On the international front, she will have to navigate the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russian aggression.

So, who is the UK's incoming prime minister and how did she rise to the role?

'I was a professional controversialist'

Born Mary Elizabeth Truss in Oxford on July 26, 1975, the next UK leader had a very un-Conservative upbringing.

Her father John was a university maths professor and her mother Priscilla was a nurse, and both held strong liberal ideals.

Both of them were involved in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in the UK and would take their daughter to rallies calling for the Thatcher government to divest of its nuclear weapons, where a young Liz would chant "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Out, Out, Out!".

"I think it was fair to say that, when I was in my youth, I was a professional controversialist and I liked exploring ideas and stirring things up," she told the BBC earlier this year.

The family moved around due to John Truss's job — after Oxford came Paisley in Scotland, followed by a year in Canada, before the family settled in the Yorkshire city of Leeds, where the young Ms Truss completed high school at the comprehensive Roundhay School.

While her schooling led to a place at the prestigious Merton College at Oxford University, she has said she felt many of the children at her school were "let down by low expectations, poor educational standards and a lack of opportunity".

In a June 2020 speech, Ms Truss took aim at her former school, saying she "was struck by the lip service that was paid to equality by the city council while children from disadvantaged backgrounds were let down".

"While we were taught about racism and sexism, there was too little time spent making sure everyone could read and write," she said.

The comments upset other former pupils of the school, several of whom have accused her of not telling the truth.

While living in Leeds, Ms Truss joined the youth arm of the Liberal Democrats, and eventually became president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats.

It was with the socially progressive Liberal Democrats that she pushed for the abolition of the monarchy, attended a mass trespass protest against an anti-rave bill, and pushed for the legalisation of marijuana.

While in Leeds, other student Liberal Democrats perhaps saw a glimpse into Ms Truss's future aspirations, through her unashamed admiration for former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher — a leader whose removal she had been calling for just a decade earlier.

Kiron Reid, a chairman of the party's youth arm, recalled to The Times Ms Truss espousing her favourable opinion of the Iron Lady during a charity walk to raise money for homelessness.

"She was quite happy to join in an activity like that, raising awareness of a social issue, but would still be happy to say that she admired Margaret Thatcher," he told the newspaper.

"It's not the usual view you would have heard among youth and student politics, perhaps."

But it was at university where many saw the emergence of Ms Truss's ambition and her desire to stand out from the crowd.

Her former tutor, Marc Stears, told The Times that she was "bright, engaging, unafraid of challenging convention and always willing to be controversial".

But that ambition also rubbed others up the wrong way.

A move to conservatism

By 1996 it appeared Ms Truss had become disenfranchised with the Liberal Democrats — the UK's third-largest political party — and jumped ship to the Conservatives before her graduation from Oxford.

After attaining her degree in philosophy, politics and economics, Ms Truss scored a graduate role with oil giant Shell, where she also became a qualified chartered accountant.

In 1997 she met her future husband, accountant Hugh O'Leary, at the 1997 Conservative Party conference.

"I invited him ice-skating and he sprained his ankle," Ms Truss told You magazine of the pair's first date.

The couple married in 2000 and have two daughters together, Liberty and Frances.

Ms Truss had several unsuccessful attempts at running as a Conservative for local council elections in Greenwich in London, as well as contesting a safe Labour seat in England's north in the 2001 general election, where she finished a distant second.

In 2005 came another unsuccessful campaign in the general election for the seat of Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, but the following year Ms Truss was elected as a councillor for Eltham South in the Greenwich London Borough.

In between political tilts she worked at telecommunications company Cable & Wireless and rose to deputy director of think tank Reform.

Shortly after her election to Greenwich council, her ambitions of becoming a Member of Parliament were dealt a huge blow when the Daily Mail revealed she had a secret affair with Mark Field, a member of the shadow cabinet at the time.

Mr Fields's 12-year marriage ended shortly after the 18-month affair became public, but Ms Truss's husband stood by her, and they remain married.

In 2009 Truss was selected by the local Conservative Association to contest the seat of South West Norfolk in England's east.

The race was nearly derailed when some local members protested after Ms Truss failed to declare the prior affair with Mr Field.

A motion put forward to terminate her as the candidate ultimately failed, and she was elected to the House of Commons in the 2010 general election with a 13,140-vote majority.

Truss's rise to the top

Ms Truss was one of then-prime minister David Cameron's "A-list" candidates for the 2010 intake.

She was appointed to a junior minister role in the Education Department in 2012, where she worked alongside Liberal Democrat colleagues who had helped Mr Cameron form a coalition government.

She moved to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2014, which saw her deliver a now infamous speech to the Tory party conference talking up new pork markets in China and labelling the fact that Britain had to import two-thirds of its cheese "a disgrace".

In the lead-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum, Ms Truss hitched herself to the Remain camp, but did most of her campaigning on the periphery of the divisive poll.

The year after the UK voted to leave the European Union, she told the BBC she had "changed her mind" on Brexit.

"I voted to remain because I was concerned about the economy, but what we've seen since the Brexit vote is our economy has done well," she said.

After Theresa May succeeded Mr Cameron as prime minister in July 2016, Ms Truss became Justice Secretary, before being bounced down to Chief Secretary to the Treasury the following year.

Then, after backing Boris Johnson in his leadership run after the toppling of Ms May in 2019, Ms Truss was rewarded with the role of Trade Secretary and appointed president of the Board of Trade.

It was in this role that she set about pushing Mr Johnson's positive vision of a post-Brexit Britain, and helped facilitate a free trade deal with Australia.

In September 2021, Ms Truss was promoted by Mr Johnson again, this time to Foreign Secretary — one of the 'four great offices of the state' — becoming only the second woman to hold the role.

As Foreign Secretary she has been at the forefront of Britain's response to the crisis in Ukraine.

The position has also seen her jet-setting across the globe on diplomatic trips over the past year.

One visit to Australia in January raised eyebrows over the use of a government jet instead of a commercial flight — a choice that cost British taxpayers more than $845,000.

Throughout her career, Ms Truss has drawn many comparisons to Margaret Thatcher — including suggestions that she dresses like her idol.

But the new Conservative leader appears determined to put her own stamp on the top office."I am my own person," she told the BBC when asked about it earlier in the year.

The continuity candidate

When the walls started crumbling around Boris Johnson at the start of July, Rishi Sunak abandoned ship and quit as Chancellor of the Exchequer, sparking a wave of government resignations.

Ms Truss instead stood by her boss, and in turn other Johnson supporters swung in behind her during the bitter leadership campaign, including those in the Brexiteer wing of the Conservative Party.

"Liz Truss is the best candidate," Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said during an interview outside Downing Street just after she announced her candidacy.

"She is a proper Eurosceptic who will deliver for the voters and she believes in low taxation."

The backdrop of Number 10 was seen by many as an implicit endorsement of Ms Truss by Mr Johnson, who had refused to back either candidate in keeping with the traditions of an outgoing leader.

Ms Truss has promised tax cuts that will also appeal to the Tory base, but not all Conservatives are on board.Former Tory MP-turned-columnist Matthew Parris said it was best to "stick to your first impressions" of the new prime minister.

"Liz Truss is a planet-sized mass of overconfidence and ambition teetering upon a pinhead of a political brain," he wrote in The Times.

Anna Soubry, who served with Ms Truss in the May cabinet, said the new leader was "the most ambitious person many people had encountered".

"I honestly believe she was given jobs – ministerial promotions – just to shut her up," the former Tory MP told the Guardian."Her ambition is, undoubtedly, considerably greater than her ability.

"Whatever kind of leader Ms Truss will be, she has a mammoth task on her hands to navigate the UK during one of its most volatile periods.

According to former Conservative MP Lord Hayward, there is one thing Ms Truss must do immediately.

"My first piece of advice to the incoming prime minister would be to reunite the governing party," he told 7.30.

"Because without doing that, you will not be able to take coherent decisions to affect the economy and other aspects of society."

anti-monarchist	반군주주의	inherit	상속받다, 물려받다
How A go from B to the next C	A가 B에서 C로 변한 과정	lingering	오래 끄는
rebel	반역자	aggression	공격
movement	운동	navigate	길을 찾다, 항해하다, 다루다
quote	인용하다	controversialist	논쟁주의자
Liberal Democrats	자유민주당	conservative	보수적인
abolish	폐지하다	upbringing	훈육, 교육
resurface	다시 떠오르다	Disarmament	군비축소
be asked	질문하다	rally	집회
be sworn in as ~	~로 임명되다	divest	박탈, 권리박탈, 권리 상실
chant	구호, 구호를 외치다	stir something up	(논쟁 등을)일으키다, 유도하다 / (감정을) 불러 일으키다
comprehensive	종합적인	prestigious	명성있는
let down	늦추다, 기대를 저버리다	take aim at	겨냥하다
be struck by	~에 감명받다	pupil	학생
be accused(blamed)	비난받다	trespass	무단침입, 무단침입하다
anti-rave bill	반강제 법안	glimpse	잠깐 보다, 힐끗 쳐다보다
aspiration	열망, 야망	admiration	감탄, 존경
espouse	옹호하다	charity	자선단체
rub up	~을 문지르다, 잘 닦다 / ~을 생각해내다	disenfranchise	권리박탈
charter	헌장 / 전세 내다 / 인가하다	sprain	(발목 등을) 삐다
general election	총선거	tilt	기울다
deputy director	부회장, 부국장	secret affair	불륜
be ~ a huge blow	큰 타격을 받다	protest	항의, 시위, 주장하다
terminate	끝내다, 종료하다	House of Commons	하원의원
majority	다수	intake	섭취(량) / 인원수 / 유입구
be appointed to~	~에 임명되다	alongside	~옆에, 나란히
coalition	연합정부 / 연합체, 연합	infamous	악명높은, 오명이 난
disgrace	망신, 수치, 불명예	referendum	국민투표, 총선거
hitch	얻어타다, 편승하다	periphery	변방의, 주변의
divisive	분열을 초래하는	topple	넘어뜨리다 / 실각시키다
diplomatic	외교의	eurosceptic	유럽연합 통합 회의론자
implicit	암시된, 내포된	encounter	맞닥드리다, 접하다, 마주치다, 만남
governing party	집권당, 여당	coherent	일관성 있는