(Photo: Yasin Demirci/Anadolu Agency)
The writing was on the wall even before she officially declared herself as a candidate to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister back in July.
Tory MPs can no longer deny knowledge of her shortcomings. It was difficult to understand why MPs, followed by an even greater percentage of party members, voted for Liz Truss.
As has happened, she ended up in office for just 44 chaotic days, the shortest in British history, less than the elaborate 55 days to elect her.
Truss replaced her disgraced predecessor Boris Johnson, ironically presenting herself as a more extreme brand of playing to the lowest common denominator of soundbite policies.
His term of just 3 years and 55 days was also one of the shortest. Indeed, the previous Prime Minister, Theresa May, served 44 fewer days than Johnson. The Tories have had four prime ministers since the ill-fated Brexit referendum, including its instigator, David Cameron.
In the end, the legacy of Truss is wrecking the country’s economy with soaring prices, including huge hikes in mortgage payments, energy bills and food prices, while serving the interests of the super-rich at the expense of making the poor even less well-off.
And yet still, no lessons appear to have been learnt, with Tory MPs once again launching another election campaign to find a fresh replacement, not expected to fare better.
As we got to print, Johnson returned to the UK, cutting short his (non-parliamentary recess) holiday in the sun to stand for the premiership. However, once he found out that he may not be able to get 100 MPs’ votes, he announced last Sunday that he was not standing for the leadership contest.
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, are now the only MPs standing for the leadership of the party. So, we will not see much change.
The outlook is a bleaker Groundhog Day of austerity to enrich the rich. For hapless electorates, the most frustrating aspect of the unprecedented shambles is witnessing self-serving MPs blocking a much-needed mandate through general elections.
