Is Liz Truss the new Theresa May? A fortnight ago that question seemed unduly insulting to the Prime Minister. Now it seems unduly insulting to the Maybot, whose stage-dancing at Tory conference appears a triumph of liquid movement when compared to the curtsying of the Trussborg at royal audiences.
Clumsy is as clumsy does, and Truss is now in a class of her own when it comes to political miscalculation. At least it took May a year to get fully found out in that catastrophic general election campaign of 2017. Truss has managed it in little more than a month.
Seeking to impose the agenda of Gladstonian liberalism on the 21st century UK economy – but with a dash of Reaganite fiscal daring thrown in for good measure and almost no mandate – has turned out to be both politically and economically unsustainable.
Support for the Government has simply collapsed in all key constituencies: the Red Wall, the Blue Wall and inside the boundaries of the old London Wall that once encircled the City of London too.
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