Truss hails rock on which modern Britain was built
LIZ Truss last night hailed the Queen as ‘the very spirit of Great Britain’ as she led political tributes to the country’s longestserving monarch.
The Prime Minister, who was appointed by Her Majesty at Balmoral just 48 hours earlier, said the sovereign’s death was a ‘huge shock to the nation and the world’.
In a heartfelt speech in Downing Street, Miss Truss said the Queen, 96, had been the ‘rock on which modern Britain was built’ and described her as a ‘personal inspiration’. She added: ‘Her devotion to duty is an example to us all’.
Miss Truss, wearing a plain black dress, said she and the nation were ‘devastated by the news we have just heard from Balmoral’. ‘Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign,’
‘The very spirit of Great Britain’
she said. ‘ Britain is the great country it is today because of her.’ She added: ‘Through thick and thin, Queen Elizabeth II provided us with the stability and the strength that we needed. She was the very spirit of Great Britain – and that spirit will endure.’
The PM then urged the nation to rally behind Prince Charles in the ‘difficult days ahead’, revealing that he would reign as King Charles III.
‘Today the Crown passes – as it has done for more than a thousand years – to our new monarch, our new head of state: His Majesty King Charles III,’ she said. ‘With the King’s family, we mourn the loss of his mother. And as we mourn, we must come together as a people to support him.
‘To help him bear the awesome responsibility that he now carries for us all. She concluded her short speech by saying: ‘With the passing of the second Elizabethan age, we usher in a new era in the magnifi
cent history of our great country, exactly as Her Majesty would have wished, by saying the words God save the King!’
On Tuesday, Miss Truss became the 15th Prime Minister of the Queen’s long reign to have ‘kissed hands’ with the monarch – in what was to become Her Majesty’s final formal engagement. Her last public duty was to sign off the appointment of a list of junior ministers in Miss Truss’s government reshuffle on Wednesday evening.
The transfer of power was moved from its usual setting in Buckingham Palace to Balmoral because of concerns about the Queen’s health, requiring both Miss Truss and Boris Johnson to make the 1,000-mile round trip. Miss Truss said that, despite her age, the Queen had ‘remained determined to carry out her duties as she appointed me as her 15th Prime Minister.’
Downing Street last night confirmed that the PM spoke by telephone to the new King shortly after making her speech.
The Queen’s death poses a huge early test for the new Prime Minister, who will be expected to try and capture the mood of the nation. She was informed that the monarch had died at 4.30pm by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case while working in No 10.
But news of the Queen’s grave condition was passed to her earlier in a note by Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi as she made a major statement in the House of Commons on the energy crisis.
Miss Truss is likely to be heavily involved in a series of events in the coming days to mark the passing of the Queen and the succession of King Charles, throwing the new PM’s political plans into disarray.
The announcement yesterday of a £150billion package to help households and businesses with energy bills this winter had been seen as a defining moment in the early part of her premiership.
Her agenda also involved plans for a shake-up of the NHS, new legislation to crack down on strikes and plans for an emergency Budget.
But Downing Street sources last night said that all but essential government business will be suspended during the official mourning period, which starts today.
‘Determined to carry on’