Female university student Truss who wanted to chase out the queen, kissed by the queen's hand 28 years later

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Liz Truss, New Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] A 6-year-old girl in 1982 who joined anti-nuclear armament protests following her progressive parents and shouted "Margaret Thatcher Out." An 18-year-old female university student in 1994, a centrist Liberal Democrat, who argued that the British monarchy should be abolished and Queen Elizabeth II should be expelled. Twenty-eight years later, she became the leader of the UK Conservative Party and on the 6th (local time) at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, kissed the hand of Queen Elizabeth II, declaring she would become the second Thatcher.

The life of Liz Truss, the 78th Prime Minister of the UK, is quite paradoxical politically.

In a 2012 interview with The Times, when she was gaining attention as a young female Conservative politician, she described her parents as very progressive people, saying they were "to the left of Labour."

In 1982, Truss's mother, a nurse and teacher, took her young daughter to a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) protest. It was a demonstration condemning Prime Minister Thatcher's decision to allow the US Air Force base (RAF) at Greenham Common in London to hold nuclear warheads.

Truss recalled in an interview with the BBC that she shouted in a Scottish accent, "Maggie (referring to Prime Minister Thatcher), out."

◆ The girl who shouted "Thatcher Out" joins the Conservative Party = Truss was born in Oxford, England in 1975, but when she was four, her parents moved to Paisley, Scotland. On Mother's Day in 2019, Truss shared a black-and-white photo on her Instagram holding a CND protest sign with her family during her childhood in Paisley. She wrote, "Mom, although our political views may not completely align, your passion, energy, and critical perspective have influenced me throughout my life."

The new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, participated in anti-nuclear armament protests (CND·Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) during her childhood while living in Paisley, Scotland, following her progressive parents and calling for Thatcher's resignation. Truss is on the far right. Image source=Truss Instagram

Truss said she did not meet a single Conservative person during her childhood. She said she gradually moved to the right because she realized the Conservative Party spoke with discernment.

While attending Oxford University, Truss was a centrist Liberal Democrat. She was the president of the Oxford University student organization and an executive member of the national student organization. A video of her speaking at the 1994 Liberal Democrat conference advocating for the abolition of the monarchy has recently become a hot topic on social media.

After graduating from Oxford, Truss joined the Conservative Party in 1996. Her parents were greatly shocked that their daughter made a different political choice from them. When Truss first ran for the House of Commons in 2001, her mother understood her position and helped with the campaign, but her father never supported the campaign.

The constituency she ran for in 2001 was a Conservative stronghold, so Truss lost by a large margin to the Labour candidate. In the 2005 general election, after changing constituencies, she narrowly lost by 2.9 percentage points. On her third attempt in 2010, Truss won a seat. At that time, Conservative leader David Cameron selected Truss as part of his promotion of women and minorities, and she was nominated in the Conservative stronghold of Southwest Norfolk. After winning the seat, she advanced rapidly. She held five ministerial posts in three Conservative cabinets. Starting as Environment Secretary in Cameron's cabinet, she served as Justice Secretary and the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer in Theresa May's cabinet. Afterward, she served as International Trade Secretary and, for the past year until her appointment as Prime Minister in September last year, she was Foreign Secretary.

Truss attracted support from hardline Conservatives who longed for the Thatcher era, citing Thatcher as her role model. Thatcher was a self-made figure who rose from being a grocer's daughter to Prime Minister. Truss once sparked controversy by implying she did not receive a good education in her childhood to emphasize her similarity to Thatcher.

Her father, a mathematics professor, taught at Simon Fraser University in Canada from 1988 to 1989, during which Truss attended school in Canada for a year. In 2018, Truss posted a photo on Instagram, writing, "I spent a year in Canada 30 years ago, and that experience changed my perspective on life." During her campaign, Truss said she received better education in Canada and was disappointed by the poor quality and lack of opportunities in British public schools. This was intended to highlight that many Conservative MPs traditionally attended prestigious private schools, whereas she did not. Both David Cameron, who selected her in the 2010 general election, and his predecessor Boris Johnson graduated from the prestigious private school Eton College.

Victoria Honeyman, a political science professor at the University of Leeds, analyzed, "By emphasizing her humble background, Truss evokes Thatcher, the grocer's daughter."

The new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, attended school in Canada for one year from 1988 to 1989 while her father was teaching at Simon Fraser University in Canada. During the party leadership election, Truss said that the classes she took in Canada were better than those she took in the UK, which sparked backlash from British alumni. Truss is the second from the left in the middle row. [Image source= Truss Instagram]

◆ Husband who overlooked affair scandal, quiet support = Truss first met her husband Hugh O'Leary at the 1997 Conservative Party conference and married him in 2000. O'Leary was an accountant who majored in economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). At that time, Truss was working as an accountant while engaging in political activities.

In 2006, Truss faced the biggest crisis of her political career when it was revealed she had an affair with a former Conservative MP. Mark Field, who had the affair with Truss, was also considered a candidate for London mayor. After the affair was exposed, Field divorced, but Truss maintained her marriage with O'Leary.

In a 2019 interview, O'Leary said he did not want to talk about his wife's past affair. Truss admitted it was her fault and said their current marriage is happy. Truss and O'Leary have two daughters, Frances (16) and Liberty (13). O'Leary has run unsuccessfully three times for local council elections.

O'Leary is expected to move into Downing Street with their two daughters. It will be the first time since former Prime Minister Tony Blair that teenage children have lived in the residence. Prime Minister Truss has strictly managed to keep her family's faces from being publicly revealed. She only posts messages on social media on birthdays and other occasions, and photos of her daughters are few and mostly show their backs.

O'Leary rarely appeared during the election campaign and is expected to remain low-profile even after becoming the prime minister's spouse. Truss said, "I don't think my husband will be involved in work."

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson caused controversy by moving into Downing Street with his girlfriend at the time. He later set a record as the first sitting prime minister in 200 years to marry while in office and had a son and daughter during his tenure.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.