Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

Liz Truss's government is living hour by hour

Liz Truss's government is living hour by hour

The Truss programme for government is dead. This is a hand-to-mouth government, living hour by hour.

If you pick up the hint of panic in the air, you're not the only one. Make that a stench. Anything apparently solid quickly becomes air.

Now, nearly every element of her prospectus has just been shredded by her new chancellor.

The statement that has just been delivered is the second yanking forward of an important economic moment for the country. Originally it was in the diary for November. Then Halloween. Now we've had it today.

"We will reverse almost all the tax measures" from the mini-budget, Jeremy Hunt said. What an extraordinary thing to hear.

Diaries are going out of fashion at Westminster but to be clear, there still will be a statement in a fortnight's time, alongside those numbers about the state of the economy from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

But so nervous are those in charge of the market reaction, that they dared not leave an announcement until mid-afternoon when he'll stand up in the Commons.

That's right - a government so petrified by the pace of events, dragging forward a statement by a fortnight isn't soon enough.

Not only has the planned cut in the basic rate of income tax been binned, so has the plan originally from Rishi Sunak to cut it in 2024.

The prime minister who promised to cut taxes by more than her rival over the summer, is now keeping them higher than he planned.

And even the flagship energy support package, the crutch upon which the prime minister has leant whenever asked a tricky question in the last few weeks, has shrivelled vastly.

It is now a six month package, not a two year one.

So if this feels a bit confusing this is where it is at: There had to be an interim statement before the interim statement, to try to steady the ship.

This is a ship where bits have already broken off and sunk, and where the navigation equipment - the very direction and purpose of this government - was ripped out and thrown into the sea with first the U-turns, then the ejection of a chancellor.

A ship where plenty of the crew are eyeing up the lifeboats, near certain the whole thing is going down soon enough.

"If polling suggests an alternative leader will lose fewer seats than she will, then she's had it," one MP not prone to exaggeration or shouting their mouth off tells me.

"Not many of us buy the idea that another leadership change is the worst case scenario. Nothing can be worse than where we are already," they said, adding "you can't sack your closest ally for carrying out your orders and call it pragmatism."

Yesterday Liz Truss invited Jeremy Hunt and his family to lunch at Chequers. He has gone from backbencher life on Friday morning to the prime minister's country retreat in Buckinghamshire 48 hours later for a three-hour meeting where I am told they were in "violent agreement".

Some in the Tory party see him as the real prime minister now, so enfeebled is the actual prime minister's authority. One source suggested they are working "in lockstep."

That's the very phrase they used to use about the bloke she blew out of the building on Friday lunchtime, the now former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

What we seem to be getting now is shock and awe in reverse - the Big Bang of radical policy ideas blitzed in one go, promised by Liz Truss when she took office - going backwards. Fast.

One source described today as a "down payment" on what the government is now promising.

Say whatever we can, as quickly as we can, to reassure the markets.

My sentence not theirs, but that's the thrust of it.

So in details terms, the focus today is tax. And the focus in a fortnight will be spending.

Even a chancellor moving as fast as this one can't negotiate detailed cuts across Whitehall over a single Sunday roast or whatever.

That discussion will start tomorrow in a cabinet meeting.

Remember: this is about two things: Restoring the government's financial credibility and propping Liz Truss up in office.


With things moving at such a breath-taking pace, here's how the rest of this afternoon shakes up:

Labour tried to haul the prime minister to the Commons to answer for what is going on. But she didn't turn up and instead sent Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt, putting back the chancellor's appearance by about an hour.

Liz Truss is meeting her backbenchers, offering to see them all this week. This evening, she is hosting what is being called a "reception" for her cabinet.

What on earth is a "reception" you might ask? Well, we have.

The gist of it seems to be trying to reassure her ministers and include them in forthcoming decisions - not least the government spending cuts to come, after they were frozen out of plans before the disastrous mini-budget.

I can bring you a little nugget about one of the things that set tongues wagging last week - that throwaway remark from the King when he met Liz Truss for their weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. You might recall that King Charles said "dear oh dear" as he exchanged small talk with the prime minister as she arrived.

Inevitably some couldn't help jump to the conclusion that he was somehow offering a commentary on the pickle she is in. I'm now told it was actually a nod of sympathy because of logistics - it was the prime minister's second visit to the Palace in a matter of hours.

The pace of her premiership, for all the wrong reasons from her point of view, shows no sign of slowing.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×