The challenges Truss faces to continue at 10 Downing Street

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is fighting for her political survival less than six weeks after she was elected to office.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
18 October 2022 Tuesday 06:30
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The challenges Truss faces to continue at 10 Downing Street

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is fighting for her political survival less than six weeks after she was elected to office. On Monday night, the premier appeared on the BBC to ask "forgiveness" for her "mistakes" after suffering the humiliation of being forced to dismantle the economic program she announced last month and which formed the backbone of her show. of government. The interview was released on the same day that the new finance minister and her former rival Jeremy Hunt, appointed on Friday, reversed almost all of the fiscal measures that the premier had adopted.

Hunt took over from Kwasi Kwarteng, who was sacked by Truss after his Sept. 23 unveiling of a tax cut plan without details on how it would reduce debt sowed market chaos. The new minister declared on Monday that the drastic changes are intended to "guarantee financial stability and give confidence in the government's commitment to fiscal discipline."

This turn of the wheel leaves Truss in office but deeply touched. Now, even her supporters are wondering how long her leadership can last, according to ministers and advisers to her government consulted by Bloomberg, who do not rule out further challenges to her authority in the coming days.

However, both Truss's allies and domestic opponents doubt his government will fall this week. Only five Conservative MPs have publicly called on him to resign, and Truss would need to lose the support of at least two-thirds of his MPs to change the Conservative leadership rules. She is currently protected for her first year in office and last night she pledged to lead the party in the upcoming elections.

There is also no consensus in the party regarding the way forward. Simon Hoare, a deputy for the party's moderate wing, told the BBC on Tuesday that there is no substitute who can unite the party. “Until that issue is resolved, what are we trying to accomplish here?” he said.

On Monday, the premier did not appear before the Commons to answer an urgent question from the Labor Party to explain Kwasi Kwarteng's sacking. Instead, Truss let House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, another opponent he defeated in the Tory leadership contest, answer questions.

Mordaunt showed his party what they had been missing, throwing darts at Labour, apologizing for the events that led to Monday's policy change and, in a memorable moment, saying of Truss's absence: "The PM is not under his desk." A comment that it is not clear if he helped his old rival.

A smiling Truss entered the chamber towards the end of Mordaunt's speech and stayed for about half an hour. The premier was absent because she was meeting with Graham Brady, the influential chairman of the 1922 Committee of MPs, which controls the rules regarding the party's leadership. Although, the meeting was described as previously planned.

Truss later met with One Nation Conservatives, a group of centrist MPs that her team sees as the biggest threat to her leadership. Hoare, one of the MPs present, said Truss had apologized for the mistakes he had made and that no one at the meeting had suggested to him that he should withdraw.

If there is hope for Truss, it lies in the fractured internal opposition. Rishi Sunak, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, was contacted in recent days by a Tory MP on Mordaunt's behalf, a person familiar with the conversation said. The parliamentarian made a formal offer to Sunak to form a tandem to replace Truss, something that he rejected. An ally of Mordaunt's said the approach was not made with his authorization.

On the other hand, several Conservative MPs from different factions said they had received personal text messages in recent days from Sunak which they interpreted as a sign that he is seeking support to replace Truss.

Who seems to be out of the race for power is Hunt, who on Monday night ruled him out during an interview on Sky News: "I rule him out, Mrs Hunt rules him out, the three Hunt children rule him out."

The mood in the party is gloomy, amid dire polls giving Labor huge leads. A poll released by Redfield and Wilton Strategies on Monday puts the opposition 36 points ahead, the biggest lead for any party in 25 years.

Still, a government official who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity compared Truss's position to the final weeks of his predecessor, Boris Johnson's administration, when he clung to power but was dragged down by successive crises. A similar situation would make the pressure on Truss unbearable.

Hunt's announcement, which included the discontinuation of a government program to subsidize household energy bills, was seen by some Conservative MPs as saying it could cause more problems in the future. One MP said thousands of undecided Conservative voters could see their mortgage and energy bills rise by thousands of pounds in 2023, resulting in an "electoral black hole" that would guarantee defeat in the next election.