Good morning. Yesterday, Jeremy Hunt enacted what the Guardian’s political correspondent, Peter Walker, described as a “polite coup”. Hunt gutted Liz Truss’s mini-budget, discarding all but two elements of her plan and, in a final blow to her legitimacy, scaled back the energy package that Truss announced in September. The energy price guarantee will only be universal until April – rather than 2024 – making a mockery of Conservative party taunts at the paucity of the Labour offering. So come April, voters will be facing higher mortgage payments, higher energy bills, and rising inflation all at the same time.
Go to the Guardian front page to read more about Truss’s desperate attempts to keep her job as prime minister. Today’s newsletter will, in contrast, take a close look at a leader who has no problem staying in power.
