‘The new dementia tax’: Truss’s U-turn is first real howler of Tory leadership race

Further embarrassing blunders stemming from ill-thought out policies could raise doubts in the minds of Truss’s parliamentary colleagues, making it difficult to govern should she win. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

The most popular meme being shared by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative MPs on WhatsApp after Liz Truss’s U-turn was the fateful image of Theresa May’s “nothing has changed”, which became a defining image of the 2017 election.

Many of the former chancellor’s backers were quick to dub Truss’s policy the “new dementia tax”, which dogged May’s campaign and turned her MPs against her.