The last time we went through the defenestration of a Conservative prime minister – what, three months ago? – a rapid judgment soon formed. Boris Johnson’s tenure had been short, it was agreed, but it had been consequential. At first glance, a similar verdict on Liz Truss’s 45 days in office seems improbable. She was surely in the top job too briefly to have any significance beyond her own long-term future as a pub-quiz question. And yet …
To be sure, there is no record of positive achievement that Truss can boast. On the contrary, her accomplishment was to have smashed up so much so quickly, a feat of destruction whose velocity has rarely been matched in British political history. But there are other reasons to consider her ascent to Downing Street, and her actions once there, to be of the greatest consequence.
