So it’s done. Liz Truss is the new Prime Minister. The Great British Public had no say in the matter, so for once we can’t blame them. It was all down to the Conservative Party members, some of whom don’t even live in this country. At least, when the time comes for apportioning blame, we will have the official list.
We’re already getting a sense of who didn’t vote for her. Priti Patel has already resigned as Home Secretary. Now how will all those refugees get to Rwanda? Also leaving are Nadine Dorries, probably because she can no longer look adoringly at Boris every Cabinet photo; and Tory Party Chair Ben Elliot is retreating to the Back Benches. They are all leaving with statements of congratulations and support for the new PM, but they are still leaving. Presumably, they figure the back benches provide some cover from the shrapnel as the government collapses in the next few months.
And then there’s the people who are staying. Therese Coffey, currently minister for Work and Pensions, is tipped for a top job, God help us all. Coffey is the one who, in the face of a looming cost of living crisis, cut the universal credit by £20 per week, saying people could make it up by working two more hours. She was either ignorant of or ignoring the fact that the more you work, the less Credit you get, so to make up that £20, you have to work 10 hours. It feels like something she should know,
Jacob Rees-Mogg is tipped for Business Secretary. He’s been obsessed with ending remote work and getting people back to the office. He believes that if the manager isn’t watching, people will slack off. At one point he was going around government offices and leaving passive aggressive notes saying “I came by but you were out.” Pity no one was monitoring his work output. And he may soon get his wish of people returning to the office, as they can’t afford to heat their own homes.
And what does Liz plan to do, now that’s she’s in charge. I expect she will do what the Tory Grandees and Donors tell her to do. Her plans to tackle the cost of living crisis include Tax Cuts (which only benefit the rich), raising the tax threshold to £80,000, which will benefit the top 10% and make no difference to those at the other end of the scale. She is talking about freezing energy prices for households, and having the government pay the energy companies the difference, because god forbid their projected profits of £170 BILLION should in any way be diminished.
She will certainly continue the traditional Tory blindness to a Windfall tax, or a Wealth tax. They prefer to search the sofa cushions for loose change and raid the purses of pensioners, all the while ignoring the giant pot of gold in the middle of the room.
Bookies are already taking bets on who will replace her as Prime Minister. Favourites are Kwasi Kwarteng and Kemi Badenoch, although BoJo is certain he’ll be brought back by popular demand any day now. How badly will Liz Truss have to do to make BoJo the clown look like a better option? I’m afraid we might find out. After all, A few months into Boris’ reign, we were all looking very fondly and nostalgically on Theresa May.
So it’s Prime Minister Liz Truss. Given a Truss is a device that holds things together, I don’t expect her to live up to her name. I hope she enjoys her time at No.10. I don’t expect it to last long.
So That Happened 