Tory MPs fear Liz Truss’s policies will create a ‘complete open goal’ for Labour
It is less than a fortnight since Liz Truss formed a new government after a summer of bitter Conservative party infighting. It is just days until her chancellor reveals significant plans that are likely to dominate British politics and frame the next election.
Yet the Palace of Westminster has rarely been so becalmed. As mourners have wound their way into Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen, a building that would ordinarily be a hotbed of political jousting, plotting and intrigue has instead become a site of pilgrimage, respect and quiet reflection.
While there has been a natural and well-observed suspension of political hostilities, however, MPs across the political divide are under no illusions about the maelstrom that will be unleashed when the Queen’s state funeral has been completed and the period of mourning ends.
The pent-up tensions will be released in an extraordinary week that will see Truss attempt to make up for lost time and define her early days as prime minister. After meeting world leaders this weekend, but not US president Joe Biden, Truss will then take to the world stage at the UN general assembly in New York, before a blitz of headline economic and policy announcements designed to kickstart her time in No 10. Meanwhile, opposition parties have a raft of attack lines on bankers’ bonuses, the NHS and tax cuts ready to launch.
Away from the state ceremony, political activity has been fraught. Downing Street sources said the new prime minister has, throughout the period of mourning, carried out a heavy load of desk duties. “When she has not been performing her constitutional role, she has been with aides and officials working on policy. She has a real energy to get on with things,” said a
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