Liz Truss suffered a setback in her campaign to become prime minister on Tuesday after she abandoned a major policy barely 12 hours after it was launched.
The Tory leadership frontrunner was forced into a U-turn on plans to cut the pay of public sector workers in poorer areas after a revolt from her own party.
Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley who is backing her opponent Rishi Sunak, suggested it could be a “dementia tax moment” for Ms Truss – a reference to Theresa May’s disastrous 2017 general election campaign misstep.
