Thunderstorms across the capital last night seemed to be a fitting omen after a day in which a plainly delighted Liz Truss marked her ascent to the helm of party and country. A swift drinks event for supporters was followed by preparations to fly to Balmoral to be formally approved by the Queen. What happens in the next few days may determine the outcome of Truss’s skyrocket career.
Already, she is beset by critics who think she is either going to govern in the manner of a Thatcherite velociraptor, slashing the state, or sell out her supporters by tacking back to the mushy middle. In interviews about the figure I first encountered as a hyper-ambitious ministerial newbie in the Department for Environment, in the thick of deadening rows about badger culls and falling bee numbers and trying to interest me later in her “cheese wars” for more home production, I’m asked if she is a sly opportunist who has cynically plotted her way to the helm or “not very bright”, oddly for an Oxford graduate state-school product who helped run a proper think-tank.
