The Conservative party will regret inflicting a prime minister on Britain who has packed so much failure into such a short time
The choice of a new leader was never going to solve problems that have been amassed during 12 years of Conservative government, but even Liz Truss’s fiercest critics have been surprised by her efficiency at making things worse. Her government’s plan for growth seems to be exploding on the launch pad before it has had a chance to take off. On Sunday the former cabinet minister Michael Gove indicated that he would not vote for Ms Truss’s package because it was wrong to be cutting tax for the wealthiest when so many were suffering. It is style as well as substance that is a problem. It looks callous for the chancellor be at a cocktail party celebrating the mini‑budget with bankers who are its biggest winners. The prime minister did say that she had got things wrong. But, rather than a course correction, Ms Truss doubled down.
The party’s annual conference this week was always going to be awkward for Ms Truss when so many Tory MPs preferred Rishi Sunak as a candidate for Downing Street. Healing those divisions is not made easier by the vindication of Mr Sunak’s bleakest forecast of Ms Truss’s plans. It might be too much to expect real contrition from someone who defended Boris Johnson even after he had been driven from office for duplicity and incompetence. Mr Johnson was at least shrewd enough to see the utility in tactical U-turns. His successor prefers a rigid ideological conviction based on theories about market forces that the financial markets are not buying.
