THE leader of the Conservative Party to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been announced as Liz Truss, only the third female Prime Minister in British political history.

She beat former chancellor Rishi Sunak to the top job by 81,326 votes to 60,395.

She was immediately congratulated by Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith.

The announcement at 12.40pm follows eight weeks of voting, hustings and television debates since Mr Johnson said he was: "Sad to be giving up the best job in the world."

Mrs Truss said on her victory that it was an honour to be elected as leader of the Conservative Party in what was 'one of the longest job interviews in history'.

She acknowledged the hard-fought campaign which she said showed the breadth and depth of talent in the Conservative Party and in particularly acknowledged the campaign of Rishi Sunak.

She also had a word for Mr Johnson. She said: "I also want to thank our outgoing leader, my friend, Boris Johnson. Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle."

She added: "Friends and colleagues. Thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party. I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people - our belief in freedom in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes and personal responsibilities.

I know that is why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019. As your party leader I intend to delver what we promised those voters right across our great country.

"My friends we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years. Bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills but also dealing with the long term issues we have with energy supply. I will deliver on the National Health Service.

"We all will deliver for our country and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party and we will deliver a great victory in 2024."

Skipton MP Julian Smith tweeted immediately after the news: Congratulations to @trussliz  on a hard fought campaign & very well done to @RishiSunak. Massive immediate challenges ahead - energy costs, supporting small business & restoring NI powersharing/fixing the protocol impasse to name just four."