Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician serving as Secretary
of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021 and Minister
for Women and Equalities since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party,
she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010.
She has served in various Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron,
Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Truss is running to become Leader of the Conservative
Party.
Truss attended Merton College, Oxford, and was President of Oxford University Liberal
Democrats. In 1996, she both graduated and joined the Conservative Party. She worked at
Shell and Cable & Wireless, and was deputy director of the think tank Reform. Truss was
elected for South West Norfolk at the 2010 general election. As a backbencher, she called
for reform in several policy areas including childcare, mathematics education and the
economy. She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs and wrote or
co-wrote a number of papers and books, including After the Coalition (2011) and
Britannia Unchained (2012).
Truss served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education
from 2012 to 2014, before being appointed to the Cabinet by Cameron as Secretary
of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle.
Though she was a supporter of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign for the UK
to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, she supported Brexit after
the result. After Cameron resigned in July 2016, Truss was appointed Secretary of State
for Justice and Lord Chancellor by May, becoming the first female Lord Chancellor
in the thousand-year history of the office. Following the 2017 general election, Truss
was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. After May resigned in 2019, Truss
supported Johnson's bid to become Conservative leader. He appointed Truss as
Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade.
She took on the additional role of Minister for Women and Equalities in September 2019
. She moved from the Department for International Trade to be promoted to Secretary of
State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in the 2021 cabinet reshuffle.
She was appointed the Government's chief negotiator with the European Union and UK
chair of the EU–UK Partnership Council in December 2021.