Dhe reactions to Liz Truss’ first public intervention since her resignation have revealed how fragile the new unity in the ruling party is and how far the Tories are still divided on content. In one camp of the party, Truss’s newspaper essay elicited a shake of the head and applause from the other. In the conservative-leaning Telegraph, the former prime minister complained that the party had never given her a “realistic chance” of pushing through her radical program. At the same time, she distanced herself from the tax policies of her successor Rishi Sunak. More comments, including interviews, are expected from Truss in the coming days. In addition, she is to appear at a security policy conference in Japan, where she apparently wants to take on the British government’s China policy.
It used to be considered good manners in Great Britain for former heads of government not to radio their successors. But the last to follow this etiquette was David Cameron. After her resignation, Theresa May quickly became a constant critic of her successor Boris Johnson. Since his resignation, he, in turn, has been driving his successors in Ukraine politics before him. With Truss’ return to the political arena, Sunak now has to deal with two critics with experience in Downing Street.
Attacks on party members
Truss was forced to resign by her party in October after just seven weeks in office. Earlier, her Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement that she would cut taxes across the board and radically provoked a harsh reaction in the markets and caused interest rates on the island to soar. Truss now defended himself by attacking fellow party members, the “broader orthodox economic ecosystem” and the “establishment” at the Treasury Department. She accuses him of not always fulfilling his advisory duties, but at the same time complains of too much resistance. “Pessimism and skepticism” prevailed with regard to the country’s growth opportunities. Debates on monetary policy were taboo and deregulation measures were seen as an obstacle to a better relationship with the EU. Brexit was “perceived as an exercise in damage control, not as a generational opportunity.”
In the essay, which oscillates between defense, attack and bitterness, Truss criticized Sunak’s tax policy without naming it. In particular, the increase in corporate taxes from 19 to 25 percent was “counterproductive” and would have damaged both investment and “people’s wages”. The turnaround that Sunak and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, initiated immediately after taking office had calmed the financial markets and curbed inflation.
“Important Questions Asked”
Sunak did not respond publicly to the criticism, but allies came forward. “The more we hear from her (Truss), the harder it is to win elections,” one told The Times. On the BBC, Tory MP Richard Graham called Truss’s article a “mistake” because it evoked Tory incompetence among voters. “For most people in the country, that was a phase that they’d rather not be reminded too much of,” he said. A colleague in the parliamentary group was quoted as saying: “It is a fantasy world and political and economic madness to suggest that your agenda is somehow credible”.
On the other hand, there was support from the newly founded faction group “Conservative Growth Group”. With her call for lower taxes and more growth, Representative Jake Berry said Truss “set the right diagnosis for the country’s diseases,” although he criticized the form. Simon Clarke, who had served in Truss’s cabinet, also welcomed the intervention. Truss “asked important questions,” he said.
Since Sunak took office, his critics in the Conservative Party have held back. Fist in pocket, the right wing is watching as Sunak hikes taxes, adopts a friendlier stance towards the European Union and has seemingly removed a more hard-line China policy from the list of priorities. According to information from the Telegraph, Truss wants to warn in Japan next week that the threats emanating from the People’s Republic of China are “not being taken seriously enough”. After the United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon, the political course towards Beijing is back on the agenda in London.
