With voters overwhelmingly backing Starmer’s pledge to freeze energy bills, Truss’s hard Conservatism and tax cuts are a worry to the Tory left
I recently asked a Tory grandee what they had learned from living through five Conservative leadership elections. The reply: “Always focus on the electorate in front of you.” The point being that in a contest where only the party membership has a say, it’s best not to get distracted and start to look at wooing the wider public. Instead, keep your eyes on the prize.
It’s a lesson Liz Truss appears to have taken to heart. As the Conservative leadership contest rattles on for another fortnight, most MPs have concluded the race is all but over. Barring a spectacular polling error, the foreign secretary will be the next prime minister. The path that has taken her there has involved a rigid focus on winning over the membership – estimated at about 160,000.
Katy Balls is the Spectator’s deputy political editor
