How Liz Truss handles today’s first Commons clash at PMQs will mould the tone and style of her reign. It’s not the be-all and end-all – but it matters as she sets out with the lowest public expectations. Few like her, few wanted her, few of her MPs back her. Just 13% of voters trust her to make the right cost of living decisions. Only 12% expect her to be a good prime minister. Even among Tory voters, the more they see of her, the faster her ratings tumble.
Yet her party has foisted her on an unwilling country, a rightwinger wildly out of step with the mood of the times, when people want more from government, not less. How ill-judged her extravagant praise of her disgraced predecessor, whose sins are not forgiven by voters. No wonder a majority now wants an election and the chance to be rid of her.
