Liz Truss has returned to the stage, without contrition. One year on from the mini-Budget, Truss chose the Institute for Government as the place to defend her record yesterday (18 September). She said the low growth and rising debt of recent decades was explained by the prevailing “economic consensus” – something she said she wanted to “shatter”. Her incompetence in office partly prevented her from doing just that. But the Trussites haven’t given up hope they can win over the Tory party and implement their ideas (as Rachel Cunliffe sets out in her cover story).
While Truss’s policies still have some fans within the Conservative Party, she herself is no longer seen as credible. Kwasi Kwarteng – her once-closest ally – recently told the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith: “I just don’t think her temperament was right. She was just not wired to be a prime minister.” The party’s free-market wing will continue to agitate, particularly if it goes into opposition. But it seems unlikely that Truss will head the faction.
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