Liz Truss Keynote Speaker

Liz Truss served as the 56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – the first British Prime Minister to have been educated at a state Comprehensive school. She is a long-standing advocate for limited government, low taxes and freedom both at home in the UK and around the world. The Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk since 2010, she continuously held ministerial office for more than ten years between 2012 and 2022 and, after an initial spell as a junior education minister, sat at the Cabinet table in six different roles, prior to becoming Prime Minister: Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Secretary of State for International Trade; and Foreign Secretary – as well as Minister for Women and Equalities.

It was following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union that Liz was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, in which role she established the UK’s first independent tariff regime in more than 40 years as the country once again took its own seat at the World Trade Organisation. She signed dozens of key trade deals with important partners such as Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, kicked off negotiations with the US and submitted the UK’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, she stood up against identity politics and cancelled plans for gender self-identification without medical checks. She promoted a Conservative approach to equality based on ‘the core principles of freedom, choice, opportunity, and individual humanity and dignity’.

In September 2021 Liz was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, where she acted as a galvanising force for Global Britain, building relationships with allies around the world. She secured the release of British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian jail after nearly six years in captivity. With responsibility for post-Brexit relations with the European Union, Liz also introduced the legislation to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol.

At the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, she promoted the development of a network of liberty, bringing together freedom-loving nations around the globe in challenging authoritarian regimes. She took to task the Chinese Government over its threats to national security and actions in Hong Kong and towards Taiwan; and then, after eyeballing Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Moscow to warn of the consequences of invading Ukraine, she imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia following its defiant action.

She branded Putin’s regime ‘an international pariah’ when she summoned Russia’s Ambassador to the UK to the Foreign Office and swiftly became a leading figure in the international alliance providing support to Ukraine and its people in their hour of need, including ensuring that the UK was the first country in Europe to send weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Following Boris Johnson’s resignation in July 2022, Liz entered the race to become leader of the Conservative Party and succeed him as Prime Minister, winning an overwhelming mandate from Conservative Party members and the support of the majority of MPs declaring a preference during the final stage. She entered Downing Street with a bold and radical plan to grow the economy and rescue the country from economic stagnation.

But the following two months were to prove both a momentous and tempestuous period: she took immediate and decisive action to support people and businesses with their energy bills, to accelerate domestic energy supply and to increase the UK’s energy resilience. However, just two days after she entered Downing Street, the country was rocked by the death of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III acceded to the throne.

After leading the nation in mourning Her Late Majesty, Liz set about implementing her Plan for Growth, including a raft of tax cuts to kick-start economic growth, deregulation and reforms to boost productivity. However, she faced huge resistance from those who wanted to maintain the status quo and reached the conclusion that she could not deliver the mandate on which she had been elected and therefore stepped down.

She continues to serve as a Member of Parliament, drawing on her experience in government to contribute to national and international politics.