With Jeremy Hunt installed as the representative Sensible and Penny Mordaunt answering questions in the House, Liz Truss has been reduced to politely cheering on the people actually in charge. Those in Westminster seem to think that her chances of leading the Conservatives into the next election are comparable to the chances of discovering Lord Lucan and Elvis in a service station off the M25. Truss will be replaced, many expect, once the party can work out who to appoint. In the meantime, with fox hunting off the menu, the Conservative party is left with little choice but to while away the winter with its second favourite bloodsport: leadership plots and recriminations.
A running theme in the anti-Truss camp is the sense that this is, when you get down to it, the membership’s fault. They voted for Truss over Rishi Sunak, and lo and behold: Truss imploded. Having delivered one body blow to the party, they can’t be trusted to vote again; the rules should be changed so that MPs and MPs alone choose their leader, avoiding any repeat of the last month’s debacle.
Once you break the norm that plotting against the leader is a bad idea, it’s easy to break it again
This narrative lets MPs off the hook too easily.
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