After two months of political uncertainty during which energy prices skyrocketed and tens of thousands of workers went on strike, Britain has a new Prime minister.

The governing Conservative Party announced Foreign Secretary Liz Truss over former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak as the winner of the most votes from party members to succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and thus Britain’s Prime Minister.

Truss, was widely regarded as the front-runner in the leadership race, having won the support of many Conservatives with her Thatcherite zeal to roll back state intervention and slash taxes. She has promised to consider a freeze on energy bills.

Truss, 47, served as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from 2021 and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk since 2010. She has served in various cabinet positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Studied at Merton College, Oxford, Truss was president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats. After graduation in 1996, she joined the Conservative Party and worked in many organizations in top positions. In 2010 Truss was elected to the Parliament from South West Norfolk and has pushed for a number of outstanding policy reforms. She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs. She has also written several articles, including After the Coalition (2011) and Britannia Unchained (2012).

Rishi Sunak, who sought to paint himself as a more realistic economist, said he would temporarily cut the value-added tax on energy bills. But he insisted that he wouldn’t “max out the country’s credit card” and said significant tax cuts should wait until inflation is under control.

Liz Truss's team have been working on a support package for energy bills "for weeks" – and an announcement on what they will do is pencilled in for Thursday of this week.

While the economy is certain to dominate the first months of the new premier’s term, Johnson’s successor will also have to steer the U.K. on the international stage in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an increasingly assertive China and ongoing tensions with the European Union over the aftermath of Brexit – especially in Northern Ireland.

Johnson and his successor will travel to Scotland to meet with Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday — one to formally tender his resignation, and the other to be invited to form a government.

The queen’s meetings with prime ministers traditionally take place in London’s Buckingham Palace. But the 96-year-old monarch has suffered from mobility problems in recent months, and so the arrangements are being moved for the first time to the Scottish Highlands, where she traditionally spends her summers.