Five things you didn’t know about Liz Truss

New British Prime Minister has a strong Oxford connection, love for cheese and karaoke

Published: September 05, 2022 13:50 Sadiq Shaban, Opinion Editor

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Liz Truss is the next Conservative leader and the new Prime Minister of the UK. As the first undertaking in the job, she is likely to freeze energy bills and rein in public spending to pay for extra support. There is much that is known about the new British leader in terms of the public policy and positions. Here we chose five things you might not know about Truss. First off: She really likes cheese and likes to talk about it in interviews. Her favourites are Stinking Bishop, Binham Blue and the Wells Alpine. “When you eat a local cheese, you’re enjoying the traditions, livestock and the landscape special to that place,” she told media a few years ago. Image Credit: Reuters

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After high school, Truss studied politics, philosophy and economics (PPE) at Oxford University — a ritual of sorts that several Prime Ministers before her underwent. At Oxford, she was president of the Liberal Democrats. It was at the university that she moved to the Conservative camp and joined the Tory party in 1996 under John Major’s leadership. She met her future husband, Hugh O’Leary, an accountant, the following year at a Conservative party convention. Image Credit: Reuters

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Liz Truss' father John Kenneth and mother Priscilla Mary Truss are left-wing and have different political views to their daughter. Her father was a university Mathematics professor and her mother was an anti-nuclear campaigner. Truss told the press that owing their political differences, her father had refused to campaign for her when she stood for election. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Truss is a fan of karaoke and loves 1980s music. She has named Whitney Houston as one of her favourite singers. At a Winter Party fundraiser for the Conservatives a few years ago, more than £100,000 were raised for the party coffers and among the large amounts pledged in the auction was £22,000 for a chance to join Truss in the karaoke evening. At another Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Truss sang (I've Had) The Time Of My Life on karaoke. Image Credit: The Telegraph

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Yorkshire born Truss, 47, has two daughters, Frances and Liberty. She was a Conservative councillor for the Greenwich borough in south-east London before being elected as MP for South-West Norfolk in 2010. Truss lives with her husband and children in a three-bedroom detached home in the market town of Thetford in her constituency. She has a second home in Greenwich. As Truss is formally sworn in as the next UK Prime Minister, she will have to forgo both homes for 10 Downing Street - the official residence and the office of the British Prime Minister. Image Credit: Bloomberg

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