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      Liz Truss to Replace Boris Johnson at a Time of Crisis for Britain

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      Ms. Truss, who prevailed over Rishi Sunak, will be greeted by an array of vexing problems, including double-digit inflation, a looming recession, labor unrest and soaring household energy bills. LONDON — A divided British Conservative Party announced on Monday that it had chosen Liz Truss to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, turning to a party stalwart, hawkish diplomat and free-market champion to lead a country facing the gravest economic crisis in a generation.Ms. Truss, 47, defeated Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, whose resignation in July set in motion Mr. Johnson’s ouster. Her victory was widely expected, but the margin was less resounding than the polls forecast, suggesting she may face problems pulling together a party shaken by Mr. Johnson’s turbulent three-year tenure and a country rattled by an energy crisis and the aftershocks of Brexit.Ms. Truss, who served as foreign secretary in Mr. Johnson’s cabinet and was not part of the Tory rebellion that led to his departure, will formally assume the prime minister’s title on Tuesday in a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the queen spends her summer holiday. Ms. Truss will be Britain’s fourth prime minister in the six years since it voted to leave the European Union, and only its third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Like them, she will be greeted by a forbidding array of problems.Double-digit inflation, a looming recession, labor unrest, soaring household energy bills and possible fuel shortages this winter — all will confront Ms. Truss as she moves into 10 Downing Street. She also faces a potential collision with the European Union over her legislation to change trade rules in Northern Ireland, a dispute that could spill over into Britain’s relations with the United States, which opposes any kind of disruptive change.In a brief, businesslike speech to members of her party after her victory was confirmed, Ms. Truss promised a “bold plan” to lower taxes and revive the economy. “I campaigned as a Conservative, and I will govern as a Conservative,” she declared. “We will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver.”Ms. Truss after her victory was confirmed.Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCritics said Ms. Truss’s call for tax cuts and smaller government was inadequate in the face of the dire economic threats bearing down on Britain. Many expect her to pivot quickly and announce a massive aid program, as soon as this week, to shield vulnerable households from skyrocketing gas and electric bills, a collateral effect of Russia’s cutoff of energy supplies to continental Europe.“The wonderland nature of the campaign has not prepared people for what’s to come,” said Gavin Barwell, who served as chief of staff to Mrs. May. “If you look at the overall environment, you’ve got quite a difficult set of issues, and the party is in a worse state than when May came in.”On the global stage, Ms. Truss is likely to intensify Britain’s support for Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. As foreign secretary, she staked out a tough position on Russia, declaring that “Putin must lose” his war on Ukraine.The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedCard 1 of 5The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedTurmoil at Downing Street. More

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      How Was Britain’s Prime Minister Elected?

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      It may come as a surprise, particularly to those less familiar with parliamentary systems of government, that the decision on Britain’s new leader has been made by just a small (and not very representative) fraction of the country’s 67 million people.Around 160,000 people had the final say in choosing the new leader of the Conservative Party, and therefore the next prime minister. Here’s what to know about those people, how the process played out and what happens next.How did the leadership vote work?Since Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned while his party still holds an overall majority in Parliament, the Conservatives could decide on his successor through a party leadership contest.The initial stages of a Conservative leadership race take place among the party’s members of Parliament, from whom all the potential candidates are drawn. Each needed the nomination of 20 fellow lawmakers to reach the first ballot in July, a threshold met by eight of the 11 who sought to run.Then Conservative lawmakers, through five rounds of voting, narrowed the candidates to two: Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. After that, it was up to the rest of the party’s dues-paying members to decide.The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedCard 1 of 5The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedTurmoil at Downing Street. More

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      As Britain Prepares for a New Leader, Tensions With Allies Loom

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      Comments from the front-runner for prime minister, Liz Truss, suggest bumpier relations with Europe and the U.S. if she wins, with Northern Ireland getting in the way of the “special relationship.”LONDON — Three weeks after Liz Truss became Britain’s top diplomat in 2021, she told a Conservative Party conference that her country need not compete for the affection of the United States. Britons, she said, should not worry “like some teenage girl at a party if we’re not considered to be good enough.”Her line drew laughs, but little more than that, at a meeting dominated by the flamboyant figure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Now, though, Mr. Johnson is on his way out and Ms. Truss is the front-runner in the contest to replace him, making such provocative comments a potential clue to future policy.Should Ms. Truss emerge victorious in a party vote that will be announced on Monday, she will have a chance to flesh out the vision of a Global Britain that Mr. Johnson unveiled after the country left the European Union two years ago. Based on her record as foreign secretary, diplomats and analysts in London and Washington said, relations could get bumpier with the United States and, even more so, with Europe.Tensions between London and Brussels have already flared over legislation introduced by Ms. Truss that would upend the post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland. She has vowed to push the new law through Parliament, stoking fears that it could trigger a trade war across the English Channel.The Biden administration is keeping close watch, anxious that the dispute could threaten a quarter-century of peace in Northern Ireland secured by the Good Friday Agreement. President Biden has asked aides to pass along his concern about the negotiations between Britain and the European Union over the trade rules.Rishi Sunak met supporters last month in Birmingham, England. During the campaign, he has promoted his credentials as a Brexiteer.Rui Vieira/Associated Press“We’re going to trundle along in a pretty bad place” in part because “she’s going to keep playing to the peanut gallery of those who are deeply committed to Brexit,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, the British research institution.“There is a swath of Britain that doesn’t like being dependent on the United States or the European Union,” Ms. Vinjamuri said. “She is completely aligned with a vision of Britain being global, strong, sovereign and, most of all, independent.”That Brexit-inflected message has helped Ms. Truss pile up a commanding lead in the polls over her opponent, Rishi Sunak, even if he performed well in the final debates of the campaign. But some of the pressures will mount regardless of which candidate is victorious. Mr. Sunak, too, has pledged to push through the Northern Ireland bill, and he promotes his credentials as a Brexiteer. (Ms. Truss opposed Brexit before becoming a fervent proponent of it after the 2016 referendum.)Britain’s role in the world is shaped by forces larger than the next occupant of 10 Downing Street. Having cast itself off from the European Union, Britain can act as more of a free agent, seeking its own relations with great powers like China. But it has lost its role as a bridge between the United States and Europe, becoming a less influential player on global issues like Russia’s war in Ukraine.In that crisis and others, including Iran’s nuclear program, Britain is likely to keep aligning itself with the United States. Mr. Johnson has acted as a kind of wingman to Mr. Biden on Ukraine, encouraging him to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and ship heavier weapons to the Ukrainian army.Loyalists marching last year in Portadown, Northern Ireland, to protest trade rules that require border checks on goods flowing from mainland Britain to the North, as part of a Brexit deal with the European Union.Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York TimesMs. Truss would most likely double down on Mr. Johnson’s backing of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. She has presented herself as a hawk on Russia, using language that at times goes further than that of American officials. But her most memorable diplomatic encounter, with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in February, was marred when Russian officials claimed to reporters that she was ignorant of Russian geography in a private exchange with Mr. Lavrov.While Ms. Truss lived with her family in Canada for a year as a child, she is not a globe-trotting figure like Mr. Sunak, who has an M.B.A. from Stanford, owns a home in Santa Monica, Calif., and until recently held a U.S. green card. Mr. Johnson was born in New York City and renounced his American citizenship only in 2016.For all of his Brexit bluster, which appealed to former President Donald J. Trump but grated on Mr. Biden, Mr. Johnson regularly expressed his affinity for the United States. In his last appearance as prime minister in the House of Commons in July, Mr. Johnson offered his successor some parting advice, borrowed from his hero, Winston Churchill: “Stay close to the Americans.”Ms. Truss, by contrast, shows little reverence for the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States. “It’s special, but not exclusive,” she said at the party conference last year, noting that Britain had other important allies like Australia, India and European countries, notably the Baltic States.“Words matter,” Ms. Vinjamuri said, “and they matter especially when the U.S. is in a period of elections and political upheaval.”Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain with President Biden in June during a NATO meeting in Spain. In the final moments of his last appearance as prime minister in the House of Commons in July, Mr. Johnson offered his successor some advice: “Stay close to the Americans.”Jonathan Ernst/ReutersMs. Truss’s most ambitious outreach to Washington came during the Trump years and ended in frustration. As trade secretary, she led negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade agreement with Mr. Trump’s trade representative, Robert E. Lighthizer. He recalled her as an energetic, well-briefed free trader.The talks, however, petered out with Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020, and Mr. Biden has shown little interest in reviving them. That means Ms. Truss will have to find other common ground with him, beyond Ukraine.“Brits expect their prime minister to have a good personal relationship with the American president,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington. “If they’re not getting on, that will get picked up and commented on, probably critically.”Perhaps stung by her previous statements about foreign leaders, Ms. Truss has steered clear of American politics. Asked by a journalist last week if she viewed Mr. Trump as a friend or foe, she said, “I’m not going to comment on future potential presidential runners,” adding, “We have to work with whoever is in the White House.”She was less diplomatic when it came to continental Europe, particularly France. “The jury is out,” she said, when she was asked the friend-or-foe question about President Emmanuel Macron of France. That drew a backhanded reply from Mr. Macron, who said Britain was a friend, regardless of its leader.Peter Westmacott, another former British envoy to Washington, likened Ms. Truss’s remarks to those of a candidate in an American primary — in this case, aimed at the 160,000 or so members of the Conservative Party who are voting for a new leader. If she wins, he predicted, she will pivot back to the center.Still, he said her campaign messaging had done damage that went beyond France. She floated the idea of Britain sending asylum seekers to Turkey in addition to Rwanda, a proposal swiftly shot down by the Turkish government.President Emmanuel Macron of France last month in Paris. He said Britain was a friend of France, regardless of its leader.Yoan Valat/EPA, via Shutterstock“I hope she will also conclude before too long that the U.K. has every interest in finding allies in Europe to help limit the damage caused by Brexit, energy prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Mr. Westmacott said.A trade war with the European Union is far from inevitable. European officials may choose to hold off on major retaliation until the Northern Ireland legislation gets through Parliament. That process could drag on for months, given the fierce resistance the bill is likely to face in the House of Lords, where many members view it as a breach of international law and a power grab by cabinet ministers.The dilemma for Ms. Truss, if she wins, is that her political ascent has been powered by her cultivation of the party’s Brexiteer wing. That will make it hard for her to give ground in the dispute with Brussels. And Britain’s relations with the European Union are increasingly inseparable from its relations with the United States.“The U.K.-E.U. relationship looks more destructive in the short term,” said Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at the political risk consultancy, Eurasia Group. “It’s going to subtract from the level of credibility she’ll enjoy in Washington.”“All roads run through Europe,” he said. More

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      Liz Truss Makes a Strong Bid for Downing Street

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      Campaigning to be Britain’s next prime minister, Liz Truss has modeled herself after Margaret Thatcher and pushed a party orthodoxy of lower taxes, less government and bucking the European Union.BIRMINGHAM, England — When a British journalist asked Liz Truss on Tuesday to name the character flaw she would most like to fix, she confessed, “I think some of my friends would say I’m a bit relentless.”Her answer elicited chuckles from a gathering of Conservative Party members; after all, that question is usually an invitation for a politician to resort to a humble brag. Yet this time it had the ring of truth, coming after a campaign in which Ms. Truss, Britain’s foreign secretary, has piled up big-name endorsements, upbeat media coverage and a seemingly unshakable lead in polls of party members.With less than two weeks left in the race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, her march to Downing Street looks nothing if not relentless. After a shaky start, Ms. Truss, 47, has cemented her status as the odds-on favorite to become Britain’s third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.The results of the Tory leadership contest will not be announced until Sept. 5, after the ballots of the party’s 160,000 or so dues-paying members are counted. Ms. Truss’s underdog opponent, Rishi Sunak, delivered a robust and well-received performance at the event in Birmingham, a reminder that fortunes can change swiftly in politics.“You’re acting like this is already over — and it’s not,” a visibly peeved Mr. Sunak told the moderator, John Pienaar.Rishi Sunak, Ms. Truss’s rival for party leadership, being interviewed by John Pienaar, a journalist, at the event in Birmingham on Tuesday.Andy Rain/EPA, via ShutterstockThe static campaign has unfolded amid rapidly deepening economic turmoil. Household energy bills are spiking, inflation has soared into double digits, and the Bank of England warns of a prolonged recession. But none of that has dented the aura of inevitability around Ms. Truss.British newspapers are already busy speculating about whom she will name to her cabinet and when she will pass an “emergency budget.” The first question is easier to answer than the second. Despite spending a month on the campaign trail, Ms. Truss has offered very few clues about how she would confront an economic crisis that many experts view as the gravest in a generation.Instead, she has vowed to cut taxes, discard remaining European Union regulations, and shrink the size of Britain’s government — crowd-pleasing measures, tailor-made for the members of the Conservative Party, who tend to be older, wealthier, and more right-wing than the party’s voters, to say nothing of the broader British electorate.Ms. Truss has stood by Mr. Johnson and continues to serve in his lame-duck government. But she has wrapped herself in the mantle of Thatcher, an anti-Communist warrior, free-market evangelist and conservative icon who entered Downing Street at a time of comparable economic hardship in 1979.The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedCard 1 of 5The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedTurmoil at Downing Street. More

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      Rishi Sunak Has a Sterling Résumé. It’s Not Helping Him Replace Boris Johnson.

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      Mr. Sunak is viewed by many in his party as too distant from ordinary Britons, and is being blamed by some for setting off the rebellion that toppled Prime Minister Boris Johnson.CARDIFF, Wales — Just a few weeks ago Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, seemed well-placed to become Britain’s next prime minister, topping the short list of two contenders selected by Conservative Party lawmakers to replace the departing Boris Johnson.With an impeccable résumé, a reputation for competence and a reservoir of good will from having guided Britain’s economy through the pandemic, Mr. Sunak was regarded as perhaps the country’s brainiest, most polished and most successful frontline politician.But some of those same qualities now seem to be working against him. That resistance has hindered his pursuit of 10 Downing Street, according to opinion polls that show him trailing the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, in the race to succeed Mr. Johnson, with the winner to be announced on Sept. 5.Mr. Sunak’s diminished fortunes have added urgency to his campaign as he faces off with Ms. Truss in a series of debates across Britain. At an event in Cardiff, he bounded onto the stage with a broad smile and pleaded for votes from hundreds of activists in his party who will be among those who decide the outcome of the contest.“I will give you my everything, my heart and my soul — everything I’ve got,” he said, turning to face different parts of the hall and promising to make his audience “feel enormously proud of the Conservative government that I will be privileged to lead.”Mr. Sunak’s diminished fortunes have added urgency to his campaign as he faces off with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in a series of debates across Britain.Henry Nicholls/Agence France-Presse, via Pool/AFP, via Getty ImagesMr. Sunak, 42, received warm applause, and outside the hall, Paul Fisher, an accountant from Blackwood, said he was likely to vote for the former chancellor because “economically, he seems like the safer pair of hands.” But even he added that Mr. Sunak “does come across as a bit too polished.”Mr. Johnson’s departure from Downing Street after a series of scandals has left the ultimate decision on his successor in the hands of around 160,000 Conservative Party members, a small “selectorate” that, by definition, is more right-wing than the general population but also whiter, older and more male.Many remain loyal to Mr. Johnson, and that has also created a problem for Mr. Sunak: He has been accused of treachery by some Conservative Party members because his cabinet resignation last month helped set off the rebellion against the prime minister.A politician unaccustomed to failure, Mr. Sunak, was until recently the undisputed rising star of British politics after a meteoric ascent that took him from newbie lawmaker to chancellor of the Exchequer in less than five years.Mr. Sunak, center, is being hurt by the sense that he helped set off the rebellion against Boris Johnson, which some Conservatives view as a betrayal. Toby Melville/Press Association, via Associated PressHe is also a walking success story of multiracial Britain, having been born in Southampton, on the south coast, to parents of Indian heritage who settled in the country six decades ago. If he wins the election, Mr. Sunak would become Britain’s first prime minister of color.Mr. Sunak’s father was a family doctor, his mother ran a pharmacy, and they saved money to send him to Winchester College, one of Britain’s most elite and academically rigorous fee-paying schools.He graduated with a top degree from Oxford University and then attended Stanford University, where he met his future wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian technology billionaire.Mr. Sunak made his own fortune in finance, including a spell at Goldman Sachs, and entered Parliament in 2015, becoming chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020 at age 39. His popularity surged during the pandemic when the Treasury dispensed billions to save jobs and support struggling Britons.But setbacks followed with revelations early this year that Ms. Murty had limited her tax exposure in Britain; after the furor, and days of negative headlines, she volunteered to pay the extra tax. Mr. Sunak was also criticized when it emerged that he had retained a U.S. green card, which would allow him to live permanently in the United States. He gave it up before making his first visit to the country as chancellor last October.And while his top-notch résumé might be a dream for recruiters, it seems less popular with Conservative Party members drawn from provincial Britain.With homes in London, in his parliamentary constituency in Yorkshire and in Santa Monica, Calif., Mr. Sunak looks like a prosperous international jet-setter, because that’s what he is.“He is, in the end, perhaps just too shiny for the party membership,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. He added that with inflation soaring, interest rates rising and recession looming, Conservatives may think it is hard for someone of such affluence to appreciate the problems confronting ordinary Britons.Mr. Sunak’s enemies leaped on reports that he had worn a suit that cost 3,500 pounds and that he had worn a pair of £490 Prada loafers on a visit to a construction site.Lee Smith/Reuters“They do live in the real world,” Professor Bale said of party members, “and I think, in some ways, there was always a degree of suspicion that Rishi Sunak simply doesn’t.”Earlier this year, a photo opportunity went awry when Mr. Sunak seemed unsure how to pay at a gas station. More recently, Mr. Sunak’s enemies leaped on reports that he had worn a suit that cost 3,500 pounds, or about $4,300, and that he had worn a pair of £490 Prada loafers on a visit to a construction site. Even his slogan, Ready for Rishi, to some sounds a little entitled.Asked whether he is too prosperous to understand the predicament of ordinary Britons, Mr. Sunak said on Tuesday that he was fortunate to be in his current situation but that he hadn’t been “born like this.” He added: “I think in our country, we judge people not by their bank account; we judge them by their character and their actions.”Speculation that Mr. Sunak’s campaign might have suffered from racism has surfaced, but only rarely. Professor Bale, an expert on the Conservative Party leadership, said that “if it had been a very close race, we would have had to ask whether racism played a part, but given the gap” between Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss, “it strikes me that it probably hasn’t.”Much more blame has been pointed at a campaign that has not been sure-footed. It began presenting him as the grown-up politician, stressing his fiscal conservatism and his determination to tackle inflation before cutting taxes.But with Ms. Truss’s promises to make quick reductions in taxes, Mr. Sunak has retreated, pledging that he would temporarily suspend the value-added tax, a sales tax, on energy bills — something that he not long ago rejected.“What she’s done, incredibly successfully, is drag him onto her turf,” said Jill Rutter, a former civil servant and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, a London-based research group, referring to the debate on taxation.Mr. Sunak with his wife, Akshata Murty, second from right, and their daughters. He graduated with a top degree from Oxford University and then attended Stanford University.Peter Nicholls/ReutersAs the contest between the two candidates has become increasingly bitter, Mr. Sunak told the BBC on Wednesday that he would rather lose than “win on a false promise” and would tell people what “they needed to hear” rather than what was easy and expedient.Then there is the role Mr. Sunak played in the ouster of Mr. Johnson by resigning from the cabinet. In fact, all of Mr. Johnson’s would-be successors had positioned themselves for potential bids for months, including Ms. Truss, who wooed fellow lawmakers with drink invitations nicknamed “fizz with Liz.”But she remained in the cabinet to the bitter end, stayed publicly loyal and is benefiting now from a sense among some that Mr. Johnson was betrayed and that Mr. Sunak led the way.“There’s perhaps a feeling of guilt about the defenestration of Boris Johnson which, in some ways, she helps to assuage,” Professor Bale said.In Cardiff, Patricia Johnson, a retired market researcher from Caerphilly, Wales, said she was one of those who think that Mr. Sunak “is not as trustworthy as I would like” and added, “I don’t like the idea that Boris was hoisted from the position that the country put him in.”As for Mr. Sunak’s ability to tackle the problems confronting ordinary Britons, Ms. Johnson was less than convinced. Things, she said, probably look a little different “if you don’t have to worry where the next £3 million is coming from.” More

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      Gentle Into That Good Night? Not Boris Johnson.

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      The British prime minister may be leaving Downing Street, but few expect him to cede the spotlight, or abandon the prospect of one day regaining his position.LONDON — Less than three weeks after he announced his resignation, and with rumors already swirling that he plans a comeback, Britain’s scandal-scarred prime minister, Boris Johnson, received the sort of self-care advice best dispensed by a family member.“If you ask me,” Rachel Johnson, the prime minister’s sister, said recently on LBC Radio, where she hosts a talk show, “I would like to see my brother rest and write and paint and just regroup and just, you know, see what happens.”Not much chance of that.Still serving as caretaker prime minister, Mr. Johnson has hardly retreated to the background. He recently posed in a fighter jet, then at a military base where he hurled a hand grenade, used a machine gun and held a rocket launcher during a training exercise with Ukrainian troops.According to one media report, he stoked speculation that somehow he might try to reverse his resignation, lunching recently with a prominent supporter of a petition for a rule change that could allow him to remain in his job.And at his final appearance in Parliament as prime minister, Mr. Johnson’s verdict on his three tumultuous years in Downing Street was “mission largely accomplished — for now,” before he signed off with words from a “Terminator” movie: “Hasta la vista, baby.”Mr. Johnson, 58, lost his job when a succession of scandals prompted dozens of resignations from his government but he remains prime minister until early September when one of the two remaining candidates — Foreign Secretary Liz Truss or the former chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak — will take over. In politics the media caravan moves swiftly on, and a vicious battle for the succession is now the big news story.Mr. Johnson visiting the Francis Crick Institute, four days after announcing his resignation. He has continued to make high-profile appearances.Leon Neal/Agence France-Presse Via Getty ImagesYet as a devotee of the Terminator franchise, Mr. Johnson knows about sequels.“He’s not the kind of person who gives up and goes away to live a quiet life in some nice house in the country and does good work for the local church,” said Andrew Gimson, who is soon to publish a second volume of his biography of Mr. Johnson.“You don’t really get to the top unless you are already quite unnaturally competitive, so it would be very astonishing if he just subsided into private life.”The Fall of Boris Johnson, ExplainedCard 1 of 5Turmoil at Downing Street. More

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      Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss Will Compete to Replace Boris Johnson

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      The two emerged as the final candidates after five rounds of voting, and now will try to win over an electorate that had wearied of Mr. Johnson’s seemingly endless scandals.LONDON — A 42-year-old man of South Asian ancestry will square off against a 46-year-old woman who was once a Liberal Democrat to be the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and the next prime minister, after a vote on Wednesday that captured the party’s rich diversity but also exposed its raw divisions.Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, and Liz Truss, the current foreign secretary, emerged as the two finalists after five rounds of voting by Conservative lawmakers whittled the original field of 11 candidates. The two will now compete to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a vote of the party’s rank-and-file membership, with the results announced in early September.Ms. Truss edged out Penny Mordaunt, a little-known middle-ranking minister who mounted an unexpectedly vigorous campaign, promoting herself as a breath of fresh air after three turbulent years under Mr. Johnson. Ms. Mordaunt was eliminated after winning 105 votes, while Ms. Truss had 113 and Mr. Sunak 137.It was Mr. Sunak’s resignation two weeks ago set in motion the events that brought down Mr. Johnson, but neither he nor Ms. Truss represent much of a break with the departing prime minister in terms of policy. Both will face questions from a Conservative electorate which once savored Mr. Johnson’s shambling style but had recently grown frustrated with the seemingly endless parade of scandals in his government.Mr. Johnson, for his part, made a jaunty, self-congratulatory last appearance at Prime Minister Questions in Parliament, taking credit for winning the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher in 1987, for getting Brexit done, and for steadfastly supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.“Hasta la vista, baby!” he said to lawmakers, borrowing a familiar sign-off from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also famously said, “I’ll be back.”How successfully Mr. Sunak and Mr. Truss escape Mr. Johnson’s shadow may determine their success in the next six weeks of campaigning. That may pose a bigger challenge to Ms. Truss, who sat alongside Mr. Johnson in the House of Commons on Wednesday and has stayed in his cabinet when several others quit.Mr. Sunak will likely present himself as a responsible steward of the nation’s finances during a period of extreme stress, with surging inflation and the specter of recession. His victory caps a remarkable comeback from a few months ago, when he came under sharp criticism for the disclosure that his wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian billionaire, did not pay taxes on all her income in Britain. Ms. Truss will be viewed as the candidate of hard-line Brexiteers, pursuing aggressive negotiations with the European Union over trade in Northern Ireland.She will also likely play up her hard-power credentials as foreign secretary during the war in Ukraine. At a recent televised debate, she was the only candidate to say she would be willing to sit down with President Vladimir V. Putin at a summit meeting of the Group of 20 industrial countries in November.“It is very important that we have the voices of the free world facing down Vladimir Putin,” Ms. Truss said. “I was prepared to face down Sergey Lavrov,” she added, referring to the Russian foreign minister. She said she would call out Mr. Putin “in front of those very important swing countries like India and Indonesia.” More