The bodycon Tory

‘Get some boomerangs,’ Liz Truss says to her aides. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury isn’t looking for something to throw — she is referring to the short videos on Instagram for which she is becoming famous. She has carved out a reputation in Tory circles for her love of social media, which she uses to poke fun at friends, rivals and herself while promoting her upbeat brand of liberal, free-market conservatism: what she calls ‘Tories with attitude’. If a battle is to be fought for the soul of the Tory party, it’s one she intends to join.

Once described as a Cameron cutie, Truss has been on a journey since first entering government seven years ago. She was known as ‘Miss Dynamite’ when she worked as an education minister under Michael Gove, followed by a spell as Defra secretary and a testing stint as Justice Secretary. Now as deputy to the Chancellor, she has started to establish herself as one of the most articulate advocates of what she regards as a Tory revolution. ‘Every generation wants their own version of freedom fighters,’ she once said. ‘This generation are Uber-riding, Airbnb-ing, Deliveroo-eating freedom fighters.’

Truss sees the digital upstarts as the new heroes of radical conservatism. To her list, we can now add Boohoo, one of Britain’s fastest-growing online fashion retailers, in whose Manchester headquarters we meet. A sign saying #DoYourThing emblazons the wall: is this her approach to politics? ‘Yes’ comes the reply. ‘I think there’s a danger in politics of being too risk-averse. I’ve fallen into that trap in the past and I’m not going to fall into it again. I’m now more honest about what I think.’

Truss doesn’t mince words about how her party needs to change. ‘There is a debate on about the future of the Conservative party,’ she says.