How the coming days will set the tone of Liz Truss’s time at No 10

Liz Truss at Westminster Hall, where both houses of parliament expressed their condolences to King Charles after the death of his mother. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/PA

As Liz Truss processed out of Westminster Hall behind King Charles, over the brass plaques marking the trials of Guy Fawkes and Charles I and the spot where the Queen Mother lay in state, she looked like she was personally bearing the weight of history on her shoulders.

Her face grave and drawn, the new prime minister may have been reflecting on the new King’s words when he addressed MPs and peers assembled in the 900-year-old building: “Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy.”