Storm clouds already gathering over new PM Liz Truss after narrow win

New leader ‘has only six months to restore Tory hopes of election victory’

Liz Truss is under massive immediate pressure after securing a narrower-than-expected victory to become Conservative Party leader and the UK’s new prime minister, with backbenchers warning she has as little as six months to save the party from electoral defeat.

Ms Truss promised cheering Tory activists “we will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver” as she was named party leader in the same Westminster conference centre where Boris Johnson claimed the crown little more than three years ago.

Senior aides confirmed that she is in talks with energy companies over a support package worth as much as £100bn to offset predicted rises in average domestic fuel bills from £1,971 to £3,549 in October and £7,000 or more by the spring.