Liz Truss: Who will be in Tory frontrunner’s cabinet if she replaces Boris
After a long summer of hustings, droughts and mud-slinging Liz Truss remains strong favourite to be named as the new Conservative party leader.
The winner of the weeks-long contest will be officially announced on Monday 5 September and take over from Boris Johnson as prime minster the following day.
The foreign secretary has been so comfortably far out in front of Rishi Sunak in Tory party members’ polls that her team has been able to ditch interviews and begin assembling the next cabinet.
Liz Truss is expected to become the next Tory leader
(AP)
With many high profile MPs picking sides early on in the race, there are plenty of potential candidates for Ms Truss to choose from.
The Independent took a closer look at who is potentially in line for senior roles.
Kwasi Kwarteng
The business secretary is widely expected to be named chancellor.
The key Truss ally has backed the frontrunner’s decision to prioritise tax cuts over “handout” support, despite the huge energy bill rises to come this autumn.
The 47 year-old former Etonian also shares her instinctive dislike of windfall taxes, despite growing calls for oil and gas giants to pay more.
Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss co-authored a book together called Britannia Unchained, which made the case for a low-tax economy and smaller government.
The married father-of-one has been the member of Parliament for Spelthorne since 2010.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng could become chancellor
(PA)
Suella Braverman
The former attorney general – backed by Brexiteer “Spartans” and others on the right during initial rounds of the Tory contest – is the leading contender to replace Priti Patel as home secretary.
Ms Braverman has staked her case as one of the party’s top warriors in the so-called “culture wars” with her attacks on left-wing academia, any expansion of trans rights in schools and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Cambridge graduate chaired the European Research Group in 2017 and has been a member of Parliament for Hamshire since 2015.
Ms Truss recently hinted at a key role for the 42 year-old married mother-of-two, who swung in behind the front runner after dropping out of the race.
Ms Patel last week said her own record as home secretary “speaks volumes”, suggesting she wanted to Ms Truss to keep her in the role.