Truss fails her first big test

Can anything stop the irresistible rise of Liz Truss? The power-dressing insta lover reinvented herself at International Trade, becoming the darling of the Tory faithful and rising to the top of the ConservativeHome ministerial rankings, where she sits 15 points ahead of her nearest rival. Having served at the top table of Tory politics since 2014, the longest serving Cabinet minister was finally given a Great Office of State eight weeks ago when Boris Johnson entrusted her with the Foreign Office.

Since taking up the role, Truss and her allies have been keen to project a more Sinosceptic image than her defenestrated predecessor Dominic Raab. Just this weekend, the Mail on Sunday carried a prominent story headed ‘Our woman in Beijing “lobbying Cabinet ministers for appeasement with China”‘ citing sources who accused Dame Caroline Wilson, the British ambassador to China, of sending letters to ministers at the National Security Council that ‘effectively argue for the appeasement of China’.