Liz Truss's Biography
Liz Truss Facts
Photo of Liz Truss: Simon Dawson / No10 Downing Street, OGL 3 <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3>, via Wikimedia Commons
Spouse(s) / Partner(s)
She is married to Hugh O'Leary
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Children
She has two children Frances and Liberty.
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Liz Truss was born in Oxford on 26 July 1975.
After her family moved from Paisley near Glasgow to Leeds, she went to Roundhay School and then studied Politics Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Merton College, Oxford University.
Studying PPE at Oxford is a traditional pathway to becoming Prime Minister, but other aspects of Liz Truss's background were less typical of a Conservative PM, for example, starting out as a Liberal Democrat activist. That said, there have been notable exceptions, such as Sir Winston Churchill, who switched between the Liberal and Conservative parties.
Liz Truss's father was a maths professor and her mother was a nurse. In a radio interview Liz's brother commented that Liz played the cello until she was 15, and as a child devised a system for playing Cluedo, but hated losing and if it looked like she was going to lose she would leave the game.
She was President of Oxford University's Liberal Democrats but after college switched to the Conservatives. She is a qualified management accountant and worked at Shell and Cable & Wireless. She also worked at the Reform think-tank.
Ms Truss stood as the Conservative candidate for Hemsworth, West Yorkshire in 2001 but lost. In 2005, she lost in Calder Valley. Liz Truss was finally elected to parliament in 2010, to represent South West Norfolk for the Conservatives.
She held a number of government positions such as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before being promoted to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 15 September 2021.
On 5 September 2022, defeating Rishi Sunak in the last two of a long election process, she was elected leader of the Conservative Party, thereby taking over from the incumbent Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister.
However, after a short but turbulent period at the helm, on 20 October 2023, Liz Truss announced that she was resigning as Tory leader and Prime Minister and her successor would be found within a week.
She was the shortest-serving Prime Minister, resigning after just 45 days. The previous record was 119 days by George Canning who died in office in 1827.
In 2024, she wrote a book entitled Ten Years to Save the West.
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After her family moved from Paisley near Glasgow to Leeds, she went to Roundhay School and then studied Politics Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Merton College, Oxford University.
Studying PPE at Oxford is a traditional pathway to becoming Prime Minister, but other aspects of Liz Truss's background were less typical of a Conservative PM, for example, starting out as a Liberal Democrat activist. That said, there have been notable exceptions, such as Sir Winston Churchill, who switched between the Liberal and Conservative parties.
Liz Truss's father was a maths professor and her mother was a nurse. In a radio interview Liz's brother commented that Liz played the cello until she was 15, and as a child devised a system for playing Cluedo, but hated losing and if it looked like she was going to lose she would leave the game.
She was President of Oxford University's Liberal Democrats but after college switched to the Conservatives. She is a qualified management accountant and worked at Shell and Cable & Wireless. She also worked at the Reform think-tank.
Ms Truss stood as the Conservative candidate for Hemsworth, West Yorkshire in 2001 but lost. In 2005, she lost in Calder Valley. Liz Truss was finally elected to parliament in 2010, to represent South West Norfolk for the Conservatives.
She held a number of government positions such as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before being promoted to Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 15 September 2021.
On 5 September 2022, defeating Rishi Sunak in the last two of a long election process, she was elected leader of the Conservative Party, thereby taking over from the incumbent Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister.
However, after a short but turbulent period at the helm, on 20 October 2023, Liz Truss announced that she was resigning as Tory leader and Prime Minister and her successor would be found within a week.
She was the shortest-serving Prime Minister, resigning after just 45 days. The previous record was 119 days by George Canning who died in office in 1827.
In 2024, she wrote a book entitled Ten Years to Save the West.
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