Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

‘She’s just so bad at everything’: Tory MPs turn on Truss

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Liz Truss’s Downing Street press conference has made everything worse, as far as Tory MPs are concerned. As soon as it was over, a number of backbenchers who had supported Truss for leader were locked into a call with Thérèse Coffey, the PM’s closest friend in Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister. Those on the call said it was ‘like a wake,’ with even Coffey sounding ‘broken.’ ‘You could see the loss in her eyes,’ said one. Coffey reiterated the points the Prime Minister had made in No. 10, before taking questions.

The ‘wake’ line is one you hear a lot at the moment. A number of MPs who went to one of Truss’s ‘policy lunches’ in Downing Street yesterday used the same word to describe the atmosphere. Few wanted their photo with the Prime Minister – which is unusual, telling and also a particular insult for a politician who has built a brand using selfies. ‘One colleague literally ran from the meeting because they were so embarrassed and didn’t want to be captured on film,’ said another who was present.

It is widely accepted that the abrupt press conference made things worse

The view that things are at a terrible point for the PM is shared by those who supported her, and by those who didn’t. It is widely accepted that the abrupt press conference made things worse, with the most charitable reaction I’ve found being that Truss was always going to do badly given she’s well known to be a bad communicator. ‘She’s just so bad at everything,’ complains another MP. One senior backbench says:

She’s got to go. I just wish she would do an Estelle Morris and admit she’s not up to the job.

Another supportive MP, who says he would still ‘just about’ back her in a theoretical vote of no confidence, watched the press conference and the ensuing fallout and said: 

She has made everything a lot worse.

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