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Liz Truss, a onetime accountant who has served in Parliament for the past 12 years, will become Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday when Queen Elizabeth II formally asks her to form a government.
The ceremony, which will take place at a royal residence in Scotland, follows a bruising two-month contest to succeed Boris Johnson, who will formally offer his resignation to the queen shortly before Truss arrives to take up the mantle.
The handover of power is governed by rules and traditions built up over the centuries, as the U.K. evolved from an absolute monarchy to a modern parliamentary democracy where the sovereign plays an important but largely ceremonial role as head of state.
Here is a brief description of Tuesday’s events and how Britain arrived at this point.
HOW DID LIZ TRUSS BECOME PRIME MINISTER?
Boris Johnson announced his intention to step down as prime minister and leader of the ruling Conservative Party on July 7, after dozens of Cabinet ministers and lower-level officials resigned following months of scandal and growing concern that he could no longer deliver election victories.
Because Johnson’s government didn’t lose a vote of confidence, the Conservatives still command a majority in the House of Commons and so a general election wasn’t required to select a new prime minister. Instead, it was up to the Conservatives to pick a new leader who would automatically become prime minister as the leader of the majority party.
