Liz Truss will take over as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom as she was named the new leader of the United Kingdom’s ruling Conservative Party on Monday, reported Sky News.

Truss secured 81,326 of the 1,72,437 votes cast by Conservative Party members, Returning Officer Graham Brady announced on Monday afternoon. Truss’ competitor Rishi Sunak got 60,399 votes, while 654 of them were rejected.

The vote had become necessary after Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister on July 7 following his involvement in the partygate scandal.

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The controversy pertained to parties organised by Johnson and his staff members during lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. Johnson resigned after over several ministers and aides from Johnson’s Cabinet quit in two days beginning with former minister Sunak and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Sunak and Truss, who served as foreign secretary under Johnson had emerged as the contender to replace Johnson.

Truss will now travel to Scotland on Tuesday to meet Queen Elizabeth, who will ask the new leader to form a government, reported Reuters.

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She will be the fourth prime minister from the Conservative party since the election in 2015. David Cameron, who won the 2015 polls, had resigned after a referendum in 2016 to decide whether the United Kingdom should remain a part of the European Union.

Cameron had announced that he wanted to remain with the bloc but the results showed the citizens were against it. This ultimately came to be known as Brexit, a portmanteau of British and exit.

Since then, the UK government has been facing facing one crisis after another, including the coronavirus pandemic and high cost-to-living, that have forced the prime ministers – Johnson and Theresa May – to resign.

The new prime minister will have to tackle the fastest inflation in the country in 40 years and rising risks of a recession that the Bank of England says may last till 2024.