Liz Truss’s energy price cap ‘handout’ will put her talent for U-turns to the test

Liz Truss speaks during her first Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/AP

Liz Truss is not the first Conservative prime minister to see her carefully cultivated self-image quickly clash with political reality.

Boris Johnson was the prime minister who compared himself to the reckless mayor in Jaws who kept the beaches open despite shark attacks – but then had to order the British population to lock themselves up at home during the Covid pandemic.