Katy Balls Katy Balls

The bodycon Tory

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury on young digital upstarts, tax cuts – and why the HS2 project could be in trouble

issue 13 April 2019

‘Get some boomerangs,’ Liz Truss says to her aides. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury isn’t looking for something to throw — she is referring to the short videos on Instagram for which she is becoming famous. She has carved out a reputation in Tory circles for her love of social media, which she uses to poke fun at friends, rivals and herself while promoting her upbeat brand of liberal, free-market conservatism: what she calls ‘Tories with attitude’. If a battle is to be fought for the soul of the Tory party, it’s one she intends to join.

Once described as a Cameron cutie, Truss has been on a journey since first entering government seven years ago. She was known as ‘Miss Dynamite’ when she worked as an education minister under Michael Gove, followed by a spell as Defra secretary and a testing stint as Justice Secretary. Now as deputy to the Chancellor, she has started to establish herself as one of the most articulate advocates of what she regards as a Tory revolution.

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