But for her, tackling the crisis is doubly hard because her party is bitterly divided on what to do about it. 

Johnson assembled a broad coalition that agreed on one issue — Brexit — says Anand Menon, director of the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank. That big tent covers lifelong, middle-class Tories in the southern countryside, who may want a small state and lower taxes, to party newcomers from the traditionally Labour-voting north, who generally favor more investment in public services.

“The party is so divided on the only issue that matters to people now and that’s going to be problematic,” Menon said. “The only issue that matters is the economy.”

Attempting to unite these factions is Truss, a political chameleon who, supporters say, has been nimble and pragmatic enough to adapt her views, and whom critics decry as opportunistic.

She was born in Oxford to a math professor father and a nurse mother she described as “left wing.” As a student at Oxford University, she supported the centrist Liberal Democrats and advocated positions such as abolishing the monarchy and banning nuclear weapons.

After switching to the Conservatives, she was elected to Parliament in 2010 following several unsuccessful attempts.

In 2016, she voted to remain in the E.U. during the Brexit referendum. That put her on the liberal — and losing — side of a political and cultural war that has raged ever since. However, she has since switched sides, often displaying the zeal of the convert that seems to have convinced the party faithful.

"She’s loyal, she’s honest and I’m sure she’ll deliver what she said she would deliver and I trust her 100%,” said Andrea Andino, 52, sporting an "In Liz we Truss" t-shirt outside the central London conference center where the result was announced.

She “wooed” the Conservative grassroots “by telling them what they want to hear — and pretty much only what they want to hear,” according to Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.

She’s attempted to burnish these right-wing credentials further by imitating the divisive Thatcher, wearing similar outfits and posing for a photo op in a tank.

Few, if any, pundits regard Truss as a polished orator and she has become known among critics as overly rehearsed but also prone to gaffes. Yet, she emerged as the favorite and natural heir in the race to succeed Johnson — still beloved by many on the right even if they accepted it was time for him to go.

In her speech on Monday she paid tribute to Johnson as “my friend."

The outgoing leader quickly repaid the compliment on Twitter, saying she "has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country."

Truss had stints as minister for the environment, justice, international trade and most recently foreign secretary, giving her an opportunity to polish her no-nonsense image in dealings over Brexit and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where Britain has been a key and valued ally of Kyiv’s defensive fight.

That is unlikely to change with Truss at the helm, though her focus will almost certainly be on the domestic crises greeting her elevation to the top job.