Today, just a short time ago, Boris Johnson formally tendered his resignation as prime minister to Queen Elizabeth II. At the same time, the Queen met the new prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral. The Queen made everyone come up to see her in Scotland, which was probably better than forcing a 96-year-old woman to haul her ass to Windsor or London to meet the latest Tory dumbass. The Palace released the proof-of-life photos of the Queen and they chose to pose the Queen standing, with a cane. The Queen looks like she’s lost some additional weight, but honestly, she doesn’t look any frailer than she did during the Jubbly. Maybe the courtiers are simply unreliable narrators about the Queen’s health. As for Liz Truss:
Liz Truss will become the next prime minister of Britain, taking over from Boris Johnson at a time of economic peril and political upheaval in the United Kingdom. Truss, Britain’s 47-year-old foreign secretary, won the support of her party’s grass roots with promises of tax cuts and with her fealty to Johnson, who was booted from Downing Street by Conservative lawmakers but is already missed by rank-and-file party members.
Truss is far less colorful, less verbose than her former backslapping boss — perhaps in a good way. Johnson was ousted by his lawmakers in his own party because he couldn’t, even when pressed, tell the whole truth during a string of scandals.
Truss wasn’t the top choice of Conservative Party lawmakers, and a majority of Britons tell pollsters she will be a “poor” or “terrible” prime minister, but she was the favorite among the Tory activists who selected the leader of their party and Britain in a vote announced Monday.
In a brief speech accepting leadership of the party, Truss remained loyal and gave Johnson props. “Boris you got Brexit done, you crushed [Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle,” she said, referring a small city in northern England.
At one point during the five-minute speech, Truss read in a monotone: “We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver” — to a smattering of applause by her party members. Commentators often declare her oratory “wooden.” Although she’s an optimist like Johnson, she doesn’t go for the fist pumping or metaphor-making he is known for.
From what I’ve seen on British Twitter, Truss isn’t the most despised figure in British politics but she’s not well-liked or well-respected. People just think she’s more of the same – BoJo but not as scandalous. I find it so weird that Labour hasn’t been able to make a compelling case for why twelve years of Tory leadership has actually made the country a lot worse.
The Queen, 96, photographed in the drawing room of Balmoral Castle on September 6, 2022. pic.twitter.com/SIdtkDlNvH
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) September 6, 2022
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red.
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- Liz Truss arrives at the Conservative Party Headquarters in Westminster, London. England. after winning the Conservative Party Leadership. Monday 5th September 2022.,Image: 719715168, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Editorial Use Only, Model Release: no, Pictured: Liz Truss, Credit line: JW / Avalon
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- London, UK, 05th Aug 2022. Liz Truss, the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, and new Prime Minister from tomorrow, at Conservative Party Headquarters in Westminster, London today, following the leadership announcement earlier.,Image: 719716880, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- London, UK, 06th Aug 2022. Boris Johnson, outgoing British Prime Minister, delivers a farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street in Westminster on his last morning in office, then thanks his staff, colleagues and wife Carrie before leaving Downing Street for the final time and travelling to Balmoral for his audience with the Queen.,Image: 719935750, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
Ummm….I dunno. She seems frailer than before. Definitely lost more weight. Nasty bruise on her hand. No eye contact. Not sure if she’s “all there”. They clearly propped her up and told her to smile.
Yeah she looks so frail here – plus the bruises on the hand show that she’s been getting some sort of medical treatment. Old people that age bruise like ripe fruit – I don’t think she will make it to the end of the year.
My dad has hands like that. Comes from the blood thinner meds he takes (and a baby aspirin regime daily). Many people who take a baby aspirin a day get those bruisey looking blotches and the redness can be poor circulation.
Yeah, I winced when I saw that top photo on Twitter. I also agree that she doesn’t look fully present.
There’s another pic doing the rounds where she’s making eye contact
Yikes. Those bruises on her hand. She looks thinner and kind of vacant but at least she’s upright.
Yeah I didn’t think she looked good in that picture, she looks more frail than a few months ago. I mean I think its to be expected, she’s 96, but if she won’t abdicate then she’s going to have to keep getting brought out for these kinds of things.
I don’t think these are bruises so much as aging skin. I’m at an age (60s) where I see this on my forearms, usually if I’ve been doing a lot with my hands (such as packing boxes). The queen is simply old, bent over a bit (I don’t think her mother had that issue), and probably takes forever to get from Point A to Point B. She’s just…old. As for Liz Truss, ugh. Good luck, UK! Your bumpy ride continues.
I had a bruise like that when I was given an IV in my hand. The bruise lasted a long time. If she’s on blood thinners and with her age, a bruise like that can be almost permanent.
A lot of senior home residents/clients wear those bruises on their hands all the time. I thought they were from an IV.
I’m sorry but that Twitter post by Omid cracks me up. Very “Look folks she still alive!”. Lol.
That sure is a pretty room!
The bruising on her hand looks like she had an IV treatment recently.
That’s what I’m thinking too.
Or she could be on blood thinners which caused the skin to easily bruise.
Have suspected blood thinners for a while given bruising in past pictures. But keeping hydrated is such a common issue in older adults, she could also have gotten IV fluids recently.
Or maybe both? It wouldn’t be farfetched for her to be on blood thinners AND to recently have had IV fluids or something IV.
Yes, that’s what I think, both. People here also suggested the overnight hospital stay a year ago could have been to get a pacemaker. In any event, she does look overall less healthy/more frail than previous months.
Ooops, sorry everyone. I responded above before reading your posts.
Ditto on the sorry and the reason why.
It could be that she is on blood thinners, or recently had an IV or blood drawn…but not necessarily. Just being old is reason enough. The older you get the thinner your skin gets, and then light pressure can bruise your skin. I have enough of a problem with this that if I carry a heavy bag slung over my arm I will end up looking like an accident victim. Thinning skin happens to us all eventually.
It’s v zoomed out but her make-up looks kinda clownish…. and are her hands completely purple??? She does not look well.
Wow, the queen has gotten so “small”, more hunched over and much thinner, noticeably so.
She definitely has osteoporosis which explains the lost of height and her reluctance to travel- bumps on road causes extreme pain. She’s in decline
I am wondering if her “mobility issue” is something called spinal stenosis: when the vertebrae that make up the spinal cord fray and collapse toward the inside. Symptoms can vary widely but in general involve pressing the nerves and causing numbness and lack of response in the legs. This is one of those problems that, if you live long enough, you will have problems with.
Betty’s hand is 3 different colors yikes.
Nobody in Scotland could give that poor old lady some Dermablend?
The fact that they chose the header pic to release suggests they were short of genuinely good shots. What about one of Liz (W) actually looking back at Liz (T) as they shake hands?
Exactly. If this was the best shot they could scrounge up, perhaps she’s worse off than they’re claiming.
Re her hand, My dad was the same age as HM before he passed and as you age the skin gets thinner and more translucent, and the capillaries are leakier which means any knocks are very visible. She looks in remarkable shape for her age.
My own suspicion given her rounded back is that there some degree of osteoporosis that’s causing issues with her spine. It used to be called “dowager’s hump” – the spine becomes compressed and causes the curve that’s become apparent in the last couple of years. She’s always had good posture and it’s definitely the most notable change I’ve seen.
Regarding her dowager’s hump, it does look more pronounced than it was even a few months ago. The difference I notice in particular in one photo is that she looks as though she’s propped up and is pained to turn her head to look into the camera because she can’t turn her body in line with her head, so she has that funny angle to her head that you see in elderly people with very limited mobility and or balance issues.
Did the new PM curtsey? Truss use to have an anti monarchy stance. The sad thing is the UK press paid more attention to the Sussex visit in Manchester than Truss’ acsenion to PM.
As deflection? I mean I’m sure they get more clicks but at the same time not many people are happy to see her in charge so the right wing media probably doesn’t want to draw too much attention to her.
I hope she didn’t curtsey. It’s completely ridiculous. F the curtseying.
The photos aren’t great. As Kaiser says they look like proof of life photos.
Are they terrified of another bout of COVID or that the much bigger Truss might knock little Liz over? Truss was obviously instructed not to get too close to the 👑.
There are serious indications of osteoporosis. The curved spine, the shrinking. If she fell, it would probably lead to her death in pretty short order because she would need morphine for the pain and that suppresses breathing, causing pneumonia.
And why is the 👑 carrying a purse in her own house?
I think I read that she uses the purse to signal to her aids. Like when she switches it to her other hand it means she’s ready to go? Or maybe that’s a myth, lol. Anyway at this point its probably something she needs to have with her for comfort when she’s around others, even family. Kind of like a blankie.
Is that another slave painting on the left of the 2nd picture?
Sure does look like it.
I enlarged it. It’s a hunting picture in Scotland. The one on the other side is Queen Victoria with her “Gillie”, John Brown. No slaves visible, thankfully.
Good luck to Britain with Liz Truss. I think her stated positions will leave Britain’s poor and middle-class screwed. The rhetoric has been all tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts and her response a few days about defending bigger tax cuts fro the rich because it will benefit everyone is whew….
“I find it so weird that Labour hasn’t been able to make a compelling case for why twelve years of Tory leadership has actually made the country a lot worse”.
It’s not that they haven’t been making a compelling case to get rid of them. It’s that these last few PM’s weren’t chosen by General Election. Liz Truss was just elected to power by 81K votes from within the Tory party — a party who lately has lost a lot of seats in Parliament to Labour and Liberal Democrats. Until a general election is triggered, were handtied to this dangerous convention, and the Tories keep benefitting.
IF she lasts this long, the next General Election isn’t until 18 months from now — if we survive that long!
Also, Queen definitely was on a drip looking at her hand.
That would prob tie in with the stories of Charles going to see her at Balmoral every day because he’s worried about her.
Agreed. She’s lost a lot of weight and is just shrinking. She’s almost 100 years old. I hope that she’s comfortable.
As someone on blood thinners I am constantly covered in bruises I don’t even know how I got. Any small bump can make my skin turn purple. Perhaps she is also on blood thinners and hit her hand on something? Although an IV makes sense, when I get one they never use my hand, always my arm. I assume it has something to do with blood thinners. That said she looks to me exactly as she did at the Jubilee. Like a 96 year old woman. It’s a bit ghoulish to be predicting her end. Even if she is 96.
I agree with you, Nancy. My mom was on blood thinners when she passed away at 97 and was covered in bruises like that. You can knock and bruise your hands so easily. And while the Queen might have gotten IV via her hand, my mom received it in her arm, but of course that all depends on how easily they can locate and access veins.
The Queen looks…alive, is all I’ll say for that.
As for the decision to choose Liz Truss as PM instead of the other front runner, Rishi Sunak…I wonder if they’re setting her up to fail, lmao. She’s not very well-liked by the party’s support base, much less by anyone else in Britain. Sunak had the $$$$$$$$ to buy his way in (it pays to be married to a multimillionaire industrialist’s daughter, lmao), but I wonder if he’s decided to bide his time for when the Tory party gets ousted in a general election, then campaign his way back as PM? Who knows. If I lived in Britain, I’d be counting the days down until the next general election.
Rishi Sunak is every BAME who is in the Tory party. They double down on the racism, take away BAME citizenship from brown people but still rejected by the Tory party because they aren’t white enough. Sunak would have been a poor PM (although better than Truss) but they couldn’t get past the brown.
Anyone else notice they always choose a woman when things are going south and a Tory PM is either ousted or steps down themselves? Then the woman can’t get anything done because it’s already chaos and they vilify her and pick another moronic man. Rinse and repeat.
The women put themselves up to this. May was a terrible leader. The only thing that made her smile was the Windrush scandal that she made reality. Truss is also there to do the party’s bidding.
For the Tories, it’s party over country. Always.
It happens so often in the business world it has a name – the glass cliff. A company gets into trouble and the CEO resigns or is fired, and his (it’s almost always a dude) replacement is a woman who then has to work miracles from day one trying to save the company from the consequences of decisions that were not theirs. Very few female CEO’s got their job when the company was doing well.
Yeah, the Labour Party is a total mess. Blair went neo-liberal in a party which is to the left of the Democrats in the US. It meant the party was split when he left and neither side has been able to take real control since.
The Labour Party was definitely overall Remain during Brexit. However, there was a small but vocal Leave faction, so Corbyn made the fatal error that Labour would remain neutral on the Brexit vote. That probably helped it pass. Corbyn was undoubtedly assuming that it would fail, and didn’t want to split the party further. Tragically, that has meant Labour hasn’t been able to run on the Tory’s Brexit disaster, because they didn’t oppose it in the first place.
And the Queen looks very sick.
Corbyn was a terrible leader. But he would have been a better PM than Johnson (although not with Ukraine; I think he would have left Ukraine to its own devices; because Lexiteers have a strange blind spot when it comes to Russia – they still think it’s 1917 and Tolstoy).
Although I have no truck with Rory Stewart (ugh) I do think that he’s on to something that the two big parties in the UK were coalitions and a loose knit of far left/ right to centralists in both parties.
Post Brexit the coalitions have fractured both parties on both sides.
What this means is that there is internal wars in both parties and with each leader, their circle becomes smaller because they cling to loyalists.
This is why the push (especially for Tories) is the whole remit of the new PM having to unite their party. Brexit was supposed to unite the party, put the rabid right wing into place but… it’s blown the whole country apart. We are watching a state failing in real time.
The Tories have driven the UK to the brink. I hate them all.
Didn’t Corbyn also suffer from being defined by that lying creep Tom Bower? Can’t exactly wrap my head around why Brits suck up the crap TB spouts. Peter Oborne did a critical review of the so-called “biography” when it came out. TB lies. A lot.
One must have been wondering if this is one’s last prime minister. But then, one never knows.
I’m actually shocked that Boris gave up power willingly. You mean he DIDN’T incite an insurrection to tear down Parliament and hang the politicians? What self-restraint! How normal! My respect for Boris has risen given the hideous bar Rump has set for all out-going administrations of (supposedly) democratic nations.
@jferber supposedly Johnson is buying time. He is waiting for Truss to cock up and come roaring back to save the party from itself. I wish he would just disappear from public life