Crisis, what crisis? The right’s love of pretending nothing is wrong may have dire consequences come winter
With Liz Truss heading for victory in the Conservative leadership contest, she would be forgiven for wondering if she’s about to win a poisoned chalice. The biggest cost of living crisis in a generation, a crumbling NHS, a summer of strikes, an impending recession. Becoming prime minister of the UK in 2022 is less like inheriting a 10-bed mansion than a rat-infested shed.
Not that Truss will tell you this. Throughout the campaign, Truss has spent most of her time downplaying the impending crises. “I don’t agree with these portents of doom. I don’t really agree with this declinist talk. I believe our country’s best days are ahead of us,” she told one hustings audience. In Truss world, even the Bank of England is a doom-forecaster. “There is too much talk that there’s going to be a recession,” she said, in a Sun on Sunday interview. “I don’t believe that’s inevitable. We can unleash opportunity here in Britain.”
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist
