Spare a thought for Liz Truss’s comms advisers

Spare a thought for Liz Truss’s communications advisers. They’re following the unwritten rules of crisis management to a tee, but it’s only making things worse. They find themselves in this quandary partly because the government’s situation is uniquely bad – and partly because the Prime Minister is so bad at communicating.

Watching Truss’s interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason last night, many viewers will have had thoughts such as ‘please make it stop’. Others might ask: why is she doing this? Going on TV to confirm that you’ve failed – but still think you can lead your party into the next general election – really doesn’t make things better. Likewise the frozen gaze, the startled blinking and the awkward laughing, all of which offered no comfort to an electorate facing economic anxiety. The overall effect was irritation, not reassurance.