Truss’ truncated tenure: A lesson for all politicians!

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Liz Truss has created history in British politics, certainly not in the way she wished, but becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history. Up to 20 October, when she announced her resignation, the record was held by yet another Tory, George Canning, who served only 119 days. But he died of tuberculosis and that was way back in 1827. Liz Truss beat him handsomely as she resigned on the 44th day of her premiership! In fact, her campaign to win the leadership vote from Conservative party members lasted longer than her premiership. Further, political analysts are in agreement that her humiliating resignation was totally self-inflicted! I never thought she would go so soon though I speculated she would in my piece “Playing the wrong tune” (The Island, 10 October)

In spite of protestations by her leadership rival Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, that tax-cutting for growth, without tackling inflation, is a recipe for disaster, Truss carried on with her slogan “Growth, growth, growth”, with tax cuts, which lured the rich Tories’ vote. Not only that, she was in a massive hurry to introduce the changes, as mentioned in my article “The UK seems to follow Sri Lankan politics” (The Island, 1 October). Markets responded very badly to the unfunded massive tax cuts, announced in the mini-budget, presented on 23rd September, resulting in the British Pound losing value and long-term borrowing by the British government becoming more expensive. This resulted in mortgage rates increasing sharply. All the predictions in Rishi Sunak’s warnings came true.

To prevent the economy tanking, Truss had to do something. She summoned the Chancellor, who was attending an IMF meeting in Washington, and sacked him. The Opposition had a field day, pointing out the laughable act of hers: sacking the Chancellor for carrying out her policy! Having purged, or not giving positions to Sunak supporters during the formation of her government, Truss had no choice but to bring in Jeremy Hunt, a seasoned politician, and Sunak supporter, as the Chancellor. The news conference she held after sacking the Chancellor was easily the worst, I have ever watched, wherein she had great difficulty in answering questions fielded by journalists, even though they were hand-picked! Anyone who watched that interview would have come to the inevitable conclusion that she was totally incompetent.

To make matters worse, Truss had to face the indignancy of having to sit in Parliament, next to the new Chancellor when he was making a statement reversing almost all the changes proposed in the mini-budget! Fortunately, markets steadied, following the statement, and it seemed as if Truss had got a reprieve. However, it did not last long.

Wednesday noon is an important time in the British parliamentary calendar, as it is PMQ; Prime Minister’s Questions for half an hour is informative, combative and often humorous, too. Though some questions are planted and any MP may question the PM, the most important are the exchanges between the PM and the Leader of the Opposition. On 19th, the Leader of the Opposition teased the PM with three tough questions, starting with a funny question: “It is rumoured that a book is being written about the Prime Minister which will be out by Christmas. Will the PM please clarify whether it is the publication date or whether it is the date when she will be out?” Perhaps, Keir Starmer underestimated the rapidity of the impending decline! In fact, Liz Truss did well, responding “I am a fighter, not a quitter” making many believe that she would not give up in a hurry.

Few hours later, the Home Secretary resigned; rather, she was asked to resign because she has broken the Cabinet code-of conduct by sending a sensitive document via her personal email, not the official email. However, it transpired later that the real reason was the Home Secretary’s refusal to do a U-turn on limitation of immigration. The PM has had argued for 90 minutes to force a U-turn on a manifesto commitment at the last general election! The Home Secretary’s resignation letter was devastating wherein she implied that the PM should follow suit; take responsibility and resign, as she has done.

The same evening, during a vote in Parliament where the Opposition tried to block another U-turn by Truss allowing fracking to obtain gas to solve the energy crisis disregarding environmental concerns, some seniors in the government behaved like our parliamentarians. They shouted at and rumoured to have manhandled some Conservative MPs who were trying to vote with the Opposition! This ugly scene witnessed by the PM was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

The 1922 committee is the committee that decides on leadership elections, etc., and its chairman is all powerful. He had been inundated with messages from fellow MPs who had expressed that they have lost confidence in the PM. She had no choice but to announce her resignation around 1.30pm on Thursday, October, 20th. To prevent further harmful repercussions to the economy the committee had decided on a rapid succession and UK will have a new PM by 28^th the latest. The rational choice should be Rishi Sunak but whether the Conservatives can rise against prejudice remains to be seen! In fact, some MPs want Boris Johnson to retake the premiership and if it happens it would be utterly disgraceful, to say the least!!

I am sure Gota, now in peaceful retirement, would be identifying himself with Liz Truss who did the right thing at the wrong time. If not for the misguided attempt to introduce organic fertiliser during a pandemic, in a massive hurry, Gota would still be President, Similarly, had Truss waited till inflationary pressures were subsiding to introduce her changes for growth, she would still be PM. Unfortunately, her actions have not only tarnished her image but also have dented the reputation of the UK. Unless the new PM acts quickly to re-establish market confidence, the UK has a lot to lose. Other lessons politicians can learn from Truss’ misadventures are not to rush with too many changes at the same time and not to be divisive. But politicians never learn!

Conservatives have no chance in hell of winning the next election, due in 2025. It looks as if nothing can prevent Keir Starmer becoming the PM at the next general election, whenever it is held. This exactly is the reason why Labour is clamouring for an election. In the meantime, Conservatives can do damage limitation and they have an ideal opportunity to break another barrier. They broke the gender-barrier and elected all three female PMs. They have an ideal opportunity to break the race-barrier and elect Rishi Sunak. We await with bated breath!