LONDON, July 21 — As a seven-year-old in 1983, Liz Truss played the role of Britain’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her school’s mock elections but failed to get a single vote.
Truss — only the second woman to be foreign secretary — has appeared to channel Thatcher since assuming the role last September.Nevertheless, she has recreated some of the most iconic images of Thatcher, including riding atop a tank and sporting a Russian fur hat in Moscow. She has also confronted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging allies to remain steadfast in demanding a total withdrawal by Moscow.Truss has been a staunch supporter of Boris Johnson during his turbulent three years in Downing Street, and has presented herself as the torchbearer of his “boosterish” vision of Britain’s place in the world.
Some characterised her former Department for International Trade as the “Department for Instagramming Truss” because of her prolific output on the social media site. Her political journey began at the University of Oxford, where she graduated in philosophy, politics and economics.By her own admission, her switch to the Conservatives shocked her left-wing maths professor father and nuclear disarmament campaigner mother, whom she accompanied to demonstrations as a child.