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.”
For 10 days, at least, it is not. Parliament is suspended. Politics has, understandably, faded into the background. The new government’s planned policy blitz has been shelved. Whitehall will be conducting essential business only. Truss will be taking a back seat to the royal family as they lead the national mourning.
Yet for Truss, how she handles this period will set the tone for her entire premiership. If she gets it right, rising to the occasion and judging the mood of the country correctly, it will bolster her in the hard months ahead. If she fails, her task over the winter as the economic emergency bites will become harder still.
This week, Truss is expected to remember that she is speaking for the British people, rather than for herself, and while the public wants her to be visible, she also has to show that she is comfortable playing a bit part in somebody else’s story.
While the cogs of the civil service kicked in the moment news of the Queen’s death arrived, with the implementation of the long-planned and oft practiced Operation London Bridge, not every part of Truss’s response so far has gone smoothly.
Her speech outside No 10 was criticised by some Tory MPs for being underwhelming and lacking depth and empathy – both on display in Commons tributes the following day by her opponent Keir Starmer and predecessors Boris Johnson and Theresa May.
After meeting the King for their first weekly audience last week, the new prime minister then became the target of social media mockery, perhaps unfairly, given the unfamiliarity of the situation, over her awkward curtsy.
Downing Street was then forced to pour cold water on reports of a proposed tour of the UK nations with the King, claiming Truss had never intended to accompany the new monarch on walkabouts. Yet newspapers had been briefed that the pair would “tour the UK” and visits would include them greeting members of the public.
What may help Truss is the opportunity to play global stateswoman.
Already well versed in diplomacy after her time as foreign secretary, she and her government will have a key role in welcoming foreign leaders as they arrive in the UK for the Queen’s funeral.
Downing Street, however, has made clear that there will be no time for bilateral meetings that could, presumably, look too opportunistic for comfort.
In the days after the funeral, Truss will address the UN general assembly in New York, where she will have the chance to set out her new vision for global Britain, keenly watched by an international audience, if not a domestic one. We could also see a trip to Ukraine in the weeks ahead.
Of course, Truss’s big make-or-break moment was supposed to have been her £150bn energy package announcement last Thursday. But while it will help millions of struggling Britons this winter, it got virtually no airtime at all after news of the Queen’s death emerged.
Despite making one of the country’s largest ever economic interventions, Truss may yet find herself in the unfortunate position of failing to get the credit. With inflation soaring, bills are still likely to go up, just by not as much as they would otherwise have done.
Much of the detail is still to be explained, with businesses and public services uncertain of where support will come from and, crucially, a worrying lack of detail about how the plan will be paid for.
Truss’s emergency budget, expected next Thursday or Friday, gives her a chance to get back on the front foot, setting out her plans for tax cuts, but with the royal family still in mourning, she will need to tread a careful path through the politics.
Tory party conference season creates another opportunity – but also more risk. Truss would have wanted to use the moment to create dividing lines with Starmer. But she will need to judge whether the country is ready for a full-throated partisan attack. If she gets that wrong, she risks losing political capital just as she needs it most.
