![]() “Er,” she said, before settling on “Robert Pest-on,” a name she uttered as though she was seeing it for the first time. She had made sure there was economic stability, she replied, bafflingly. What credibility do you have, she was asked. “Um,” she went on, and there was a six second pause as she looked for someone to call. She tried to emphasise points by waving her hands as though she were holding a box of something deeply suspect - a ticking bomb, or some UK government debt. It wouldn’t have been a shock if she had added that the civil service was treating her well and we should agree to their demands. ![]() At times she seemed to be reading her statement against her will. In the Trussverse, is the economy stable? Because it’s not stable in the reality that the rest of us are experiencing. “My priority is making sure that we deliver the economic stability that our country needs,” she said. So Cole’s question was the right one: how can she stay when he’s going? She didn’t answer it. Instead she trotted out her familiar story about how she became a Conservative because she’d been horrified by the way her neighbourhood was destroyed by Margaret Thatcher - it’s possible that this bit makes sense in Truss’s universe - and then announced that she was “incredibly sorry” to lose “the former Chancellor”. Is there anyone who could have pulled that off? Truss certainly couldn’t. That she had been wrong before, and was right now, but this reversal didn’t disqualify her from her job. She would need to find some kind of narrative that explained why she was now going to be able to turn her entire project on its head. Throwing one of her very closest political allies overboard was a first step towards saving her own skin, but it wasn’t going to do the job on its own. If it’s astonishing that Kwarteng served just 38 days in office, it’s even more amazing that Truss may not last much longer herself. As ever with Truss, it was hard to shake the thought that she is writing these things, and indeed speaking to us, from a parallel universe where things are very subtly different. At lunchtime we had his letter - “You have asked me to stand aside” - and her reply - “I deeply respect your decision today”. Not long afterwards, he’d found out as well. By mid-morning, we’d learned he was being sacked. We woke to news that Kwasi Kwarteng was flying home early from Washington. Friday was, for those of us who aren’t Conservative MPs, a highly enjoyable day. ![]() “He has to go because of the fallout out from it. “You and the chancellor - the ex-chancellor - designed this budget together,” he pointed out. In any case, he did his duty by the public. Although if he has a mortgage the cost-benefit calculation of her survival may be a complicated one. The Sun ’s political editor, who has just finished writing a book about the rise of Liz Truss, arguably has a financial interest in keeping her in post at least until the tome is in the shops. After five long, painful seconds, she saw a possible lifeline. In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Downing Street’s Allegra Stratton Memorial Briefing Suite was packed. She had just announced she was sacking her chancellor and tearing up his plans - their plans. “ Er…” The prime minister stared out across the assembled ranks of the press, looking for a friendly face.
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