The Liz Truss survival plan was, in the end, unworkable. She not only hired her enemies – Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt – but let them govern: tearing up her policies, while she held on in No. 10. She thought the Tory right had no candidate to replace her with and the Tory left would be happy because there had been a Cameroon restoration. So yes, it was a humiliation – but one that was supposed to keep her in post.
The wheels feel off yesterday, and Truss had to accept that her game was over
Could it last? Earlier this week I spoke to several MPs who could see Truss surviving in this way, as Theresa May did after the 2017 election. Staggering on, zombie-like, politically undead, waiting for her party to agree on who to succeed her. Given how divided they are, that could be a very long wait.
But yesterday was a shambles: some of the most disgraceful scenes ever seen in parliament.
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