This time last year there was a notable absence at Tory party conference: Rishi Sunak. Fresh from losing the summer leadership contest, the former chancellor opted to stay away from the annual meet to allow Liz Truss to ‘own the moment’. It didn’t exactly go well for Truss – the then-prime minister faced various rebellions from her own MPs and cabinet. One year on Truss – now on the backbenches – has no plans to return the favour. She will be a prominent figure at this year’s conference.
‘I need her there like I need a hole in the head,’ says one Sunak-sympathetic MP
Those close to the former prime minister explain that she loves conference and hasn’t missed one for years. However, several Tory MPs believe her presence risks being a big distraction as the party tries to regroup and focus on next year’s election. ‘I need her there like I need a hole in the head,’ one Sunak-sympathetic MP previously said to me. Given the attack line Starmer’s top team want to keep pushing is that Sunak is in Truss’s pocket, Labour aides are delighted she is attending.
So, how much of a headache does she pose for Sunak’s plan to make the conference – which starts today – a unifying event to boost party morale? The main event in Truss’s schedule comes on Monday when she will speak at the Great British Growth Rally alongside the former home secretary, Priti Patel, former business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and former environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena. The line-up is a combination of Trussites and (Boris) Johnsonites. What they all have in common is little love for the Sunak agenda.
Truss is expected to use her speech at the event to call on the party to ‘make the case for conservatism again’. She will call for the Conservatives ‘to be the party of business again’ by reducing corporate taxes – including getting corporation tax back down to 19 per cent. ‘This is how we make Britain grow again. It is free businesses that will get us there, not the Treasury, not the government and not the state’.
Her planned intervention comes after Sunak used his speech at the Westminster Correspondent’s dinner to send his predecessor up. He joked: ‘I’m glad to see, actually, that Liz Truss has been quietly reflecting. Not least about who’s to blame. HMT of course – OBR, B of E, IMF… HMV, BFS… AC/DC… I can’t think of an acronym in British public life that hasn’t yet been blamed – except perhaps the IEA.’
Truss will argue that it is not too late to enact some of her suggested policies ahead of the election – or at least put them in the Tory manifesto. But the general sense in the party is that what influence she still has is more likely to be felt after the next election. Should the Tories lose, Truss and her like-minded colleagues want the party to find a candidate that reflects their thinking and who will ultimately change the direction of the party.
The reception she receives at conference will give an insight into how much influence she really has here. It’s no secret that the Tory grassroots are unsure about Sunak – he was, after all, rejected by them the first time around and then forced on the party by MPs without a membership vote.
However, it’s also the case that some members are still scarred by the Truss premiership and the chaos that ensued. If Truss receives a more enthusiastic reception than the current prime minister it will add to the idea being put forward by some of her remaining supporters that she could be a kingmaker in a post-election defeat leadership contest.
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