She defeated rival Rishi Sunak by 81,326 votes to 60,399 to win the Tory leadership, and will replace Boris Johnson in No 10 on Tuesday.

Ahead of an expected reshuffle, Priti Patel said she would be resigning as Home Secretary and returning to the backbenches after Truss takes office.

Truss used her victory speech to say Tory beliefs in freedom, low taxes and personal responsibility “resonate with the British people”.

“During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative,” she said.

“We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.

“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.

“I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”

She promised Tory members “we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024”.

Johnson will depart No 10 on Tuesday and Truss will fly to Balmoral to meet the Queen for the formal handover of power.

She praised “my friend” Johnson as she accepted her victory in the Tory leadership contest.

“Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You were admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.”

Truss is expected to begin a reshuffle as soon as Tuesday afternoon after she delivers her first address to the nation as prime minister from Downing Street.

Meanwhile, Sunak told the BBC he will be standing again to be the MP for Richmond, in North Yorkshire, at the next general election after speculation he would quit politics.

He said he will be giving Truss his “full support” and described the Tories as “one family”, but asked if he would take a ministerial job from her, the former chancellor said: “It is just not something I’m thinking about.”

Truss did not enjoy the support of the majority of MPs during the parliamentary stage of the contest, with former chancellor Sunak coming out on top among fellow Tories.

And the 57 per cent to 43 per cent margin of victory, while comfortable, is still narrower than the last three Tory leadership contests that went to a vote.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Truss was more interested in cuts to corporation tax than the cost of living crisis.

“That shows not only that she’s out of touch, but she’s not on the side of working people,” he said.

A snap poll of 2488 Brits suggested the public are not optimistic about Truss’s leadership, with more than a quarter expecting her to be worse than Johnson and only one in seven expecting an improvement.

-AAP