Portrait of the week: Truss says sorry, Hunt reverses mini-Budget and Kanye West buys Parler

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Liz Truss said in a BBC interview as Prime Minister that she wanted to ‘say sorry for the mistakes that have been made’. Declaring that she would lead the Conservatives into the next election, she addressed blocs of MPs: the One Nation group one day, the European Research Group the next. She watched Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer whom she had just appointed to replace Kwasi Kwarteng, deliver a statement to the Commons reversing most of the provisions of the ‘fiscal event’ of 23 September. The new Chancellor announced the end of current subsidies for domestic energy bills in April, preferring something that ‘will cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned while ensuring enough support for those in need’. Cornwall Insight, a previously reliable forecaster, said that typical household energy bills could reach £4,347 a year from April. The Chancellor announced that National Insurance would still not be increased and stamp duty would still be reduced, but corporation tax would be raised after all, from 19 per cent to 25; the basic rate of income tax would no longer be reduced from 20 per cent to 19; even duty on drink would rise.