Liz Truss

Liz Truss

Elizabeth Mary Truss (born 26 July 1975), known as Liz Truss, is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade since July 2019 and Minister for Women and Equalities since September 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010. Truss was Environment Secretary from 2014 to 2016, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from 2016 to 2017 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2017 to 2019. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 1996, Truss worked in sales and as an economist, and was deputy director at the think-tank Reform, before becoming a member of parliament at the 2010 general election. As a backbencher, she called for reform in a number of policy areas, including childcare, maths education, and the economy. She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, and authored or co-authored a number of papers and books, including After the Coalition (2011) and Britannia Unchained (2012). Truss was a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education from 2012 to 2014, with responsibility for education and childcare. She was the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2014 to 2016. On 14 July 2016, she was appointed Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor by Theresa May, succeeding Michael Gove, and becoming the first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the role (if not counting Eleanor of Provence in 1253). In June 2017, Truss was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury following the 2017 general election. Truss supported Boris Johnson’s leadership bid in 2019; after Johnson was appointed Prime Minister, he appointed Truss as President of the Board of Trade and International Trade Secretary, succeeding Liam Fox.

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