News Desk: Liz Truss is the new UK prime minister after being appointed by the Queen at Balmoral Castle, reports BBC.
Boris Johnson earlier tendered his resignation to the monarch.
Johnson and Truss travelled separately to Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire for the handover of power.
This morning Johnson bid farewell in a speech outside No 10 Downing Street, calling himself “a booster rocket” that had “fulfilled its function”.
“This is it, folks”, he said as he defended his record and called on the Conservative Party to unite behind Truss.
Later this afternoon, Truss will address the nation at Downing Street and is expected to start naming her cabinet.
She is under pressure to announce an immediate plan to tackle spiralling energy costs.
The BBC understand that household bills could be frozen at their current level for about 18 months – covering this winter and next.
A rare glimpse into the practicalities of how power is handed over – historian
Robert Lacey, royal historian and biographer, tells BBC News many will consider that it was appropriate that the new prime minister travelled to Balmoral to be appointed.
“Many people would feel that's how it should be – not just out of respect for the Queen, but just to remind us, this is a political person going up to be given a greater job, as head of the British government.”
“Nothing ever gets leaked” by the palace regarding the audience held between the Queen and her prime ministers, he adds, however “indiscreet” politicians may “drop hints about what's been said”.
“The ceremony we are seeing today is an important reminder that Britain has two heads of public life at any time: the elected head – the prime minister… and the monarchy,” says Lacey
“This is a rare glimpse of some of the practicalities of how that operates.”
How is the Queen?
Sean Coughlan
BBC News, royal correspondent
There have been worries about the Queen’s health, but the official photos show her on her feet and smiling as she shakes hands with the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
She’s wearing tartan in keeping with the Scottish setting and a rather autumnal cardigan, in keeping with the lit fire. In a change of venue prompted by concerns about the mobility of the 96-year-old monarch, the meeting took place in Balmoral Castle.
The historic moment was recorded in still photographs, rather than video, which might limit the clues about her well-being, as the new prime minister moves to where the Queen is standing.
The Queen did not appear at the Braemar Highland Games last week, usually one of her favourite events, and there had been some trepidation about her health.
But with a walking stick in hand, the Queen was clearly determined to carry out her constitutional role in the appointment of the 15th prime minister of her reign.
