Trust in Truss: “we” will weather the storm …
Truss has arrived in No 10 and told the Nation in her first message that ‘we can weather the storm’. Do I hear hollow laughter? It’s the one headline greeting all who buy their favourite paper this morning on the way to work (link). Wait – is anyone actually going to work and buying a ‘paper’ paper these days?
Anyway, the political correspondents and editors had a field day. I simply must quote tone of the summaries penned by some BBC reporter.:
“The Daily Mail describes how – after a torrential downpour – the skies cleared “in a moment loaded with cheering symbolism”, as the new prime minister set out her pitch to the nation from Downing Street. The paper’s columnist Jan Moir says Ms Truss “strode down the wet street with a tangible air of purpose, delivered a short, no-frills speech – and even managed to throw in a reference to the soggy climate at the climax”. (link)
Awww! How … significant! Even the weather loves Liz! Mind you, all these headlines refer to her very first appearance at that lectern in front of No 10, to phrases for us peasants. Her deeds speak a different language. Yesterday evening this report in the Express made the rounds:
“Truss breaks from tradition in first phone call as PM with Biden dropping down order list – LIZ TRUSS made Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky her first call to an international leader as Prime Minister in a break from tradition.” (link)
Isn’t that nice of her! Also breaking with tradition, Mr ‘e had nothing better to do than crow about this on twitter. I’ll not waste space on his gleeful crowing – here’s the link if you must. To emphasise that she will continue on Johnson’s footeps, at least as far as ‘our undying support’ for Kiev is concerned, we learn that::
“Liz Truss has accepted Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation to visit Kyiv after he became the first foreign leader to be called by Britain’s new prime minister, followed closely by US President Joe Biden.” (link)
That’s setting priorities, that is! Furthermore, one of the remaining ministers from Johnson’s regime, Ben Wallace, survived the bloodletting and is still Defence Minister. We know what that means: more £bn sent to that war – money which is needed here at home. One group on which money won’t be spent on now are the veterans:
“Johnny Mercer, who was sacked as veterans’ affairs minister, left with a parting swipe at the Government. He said in a statement that ex-servicemen have been “so badly let down” by Whitehall, adding that it was nothing more than a “hollow promise” to claim that the UK would be the “best country in the world” to be a veteran by 2028.” (paywalled link)
He surely must see that this budget item is needed for Kiev! Regarding Truss’ cabinet: it is ‘the most diverse’ one in history, crows the DT, but it’s certainly not one of ‘all the (Tory MP) talents. All supporters of Sunak have been ‘cleared out’, ‘banished to the back benches’ (link, paywalled).
That’s not all. The Times reports that ‘the bloodletting’ began even before she’d met the Queen and become officially the PM. Staff at No 10 were also for the axe. An hour after having given the official good-bye to the outgoing BJ (my emphasis):
“[…] many of those who lined the corridor received a blunt email telling them they were not wanted by Liz Truss’s new regime and to clear their desks and leave No 10. Political advisers were told to be out by 9.30am while 50 civil servants, many of whom had expected to remain, were told to leave by 11am and report to the Cabinet Office.” (link, paywalled)
Well, that’s regime change, innit. No continuity, no trust that civil serpents will do as they’re told. I’m sure the mood in Whitehall, amongst mandarins, will reflect this unladylike ousting in their attitude to Truss. Expect some juicy gossip from ‘senior sources’ after this experience:
“Helpfully they were issued with what one insider described as “Lehman-style boxes” to pack up their belongings. “It was brutal,” said one of those told to clear their desks. “There was utter shock when people opened the email. The political advisers were sort of expecting it, but not the officials. They’ve never known what it’s like to be a victim of regime change.” (link, paywalled)
Aww, diddums! Still, while Truss is finalising her cabinet – you can find the names on the sidebar here when you scroll down a bit – here’s another straw-in-the-wind, showing that Truss really, truly, had her priorities right, namely to produce a piece of political theatre:
“While the transition was merciless, it was meticulously planned. Truss has spent the past three weeks at Chevening orchestrating her first days in government — her cabinet, her No 10 team, her response to the energy crisis and NHS plan for winter. Many of the difficult conversations with supporters who missed out on top jobs took place before the reshuffle.” (link, paywalled)
There it is: instead of working out how best to tackle the problems the Nation is facing, she spent weeks on planning for a show without substance, planning for speeches with no content except PR, and planning for bloody revenge on her adversary and his supporters. This will end in tears:
“The clear out of Mr Sunak’s acolytes came despite calls from Tory MPs who urged Ms Truss to reunite the party by appointing some of her leadership rival’s backers to Cabinet posts – rather than just filling the top roles with her own supporters. By removing senior figures who failed to back her, she risks setting herself up for a future headache with some powerful potential critics on the back benches.” (paywalled link)
Well, it’s not as if that lot of Johnson ministers, now unceremoniously ousted, produced brilliant government policies! Still, it was not a clever move to surround herself exclusively with “yes-people”, a.k.a. allies (my emphasis):
“Her allies are aware of the pitfalls. “I doubt she’ll last two years,” one of her incoming cabinet ministers said.” (link, paywalled)
That’s why the bookies think she’ll become the shortest-serving PM since T.May:
“UK bookmaker William Hill says the odds are that Liz Truss will have a shorter premiership than Theresa May, who served 1,106 days. […] “We don’t expect her to last very long in office and in fact make her just 4/6 to be in charge for less time than Theresa May, while we’re not totally ruling out her serving the shortest reign in history at 50/1,” said Tony Kenny, a spokesperson for William Hill.” (link)
Given the huge problems we face, from exorbitant energy prices to a crumbing NHS, from inflation to insolvencies of small and medium businesses, it’s nice (not!) to know we now have a PM who knows all about producing jolly good PR shows, circus performances for us plebs.
Moreover, given the cabinet ministers she’s appointed it’s now even more obvious to me that the Whitehall mandarins are the big winners. Those ministers are clearly their puppets, just as the new PM has been during her career.
My personal verdict: it’s the beginning of a regime of which we can truly say it’ll be all fur coat and no knickers. We better batten down our private hatches because Truss and Whitehall are clearly hellbent on ‘weathering the storm’ while staying on the disastrous course which drove us right into it.
Well it seems from GB TV at least that LT won her first big test 1-0
And that she has come up with a policy Goodee! that has put clear blue water between the two parties.
I`m talking about her refusal to impose a policy of confiscating the supposed super profits the power companies have made through the vagaries of world market prices
Actually I agree with her and not just because it is not the true Conservative way, but purely from a good business point of view that expansion of our GDP and employment opportunity depend heavily on inward investment from abroad a record of a nation confiscating supposed surplus (illegal/dodgy?)profit in this manner is not a good advertisement for investors, who I`m sure would be saying to themselves “Whose next”???? “Ah well better not”
Personally, I have been employed in the building industry, where competition is sharp and often profit is hard to come by, particularly when some companies are pricing at nett cost plus a very small percentage and hoping their surveyors will pull profit out of the ether, as it were with the claims.
I am sure the Building industry is not alone and many companies exist on retained profits when times are good and circumstances turn to their advantage.
Also it should not be forgotten that Insurance and pension funds depend on regular distributed profits from company earnings.
I also consider Nationalisation a form of confiscation.as well as a method of tying voters to the public purse and control
I note that absolute numpty is back walking up and down outside parliament like he used to before we sort of left the European Union shouting through a megaphone ‘Stop Brexit’ etc. The garb he wears is the same including a blue top hat and an EU flag, but this time he does less shouting and holds up road traffic like signs in the background to BBC televised reports. Whilst many of us who attended UKIP, Leave means Leave and Vote Leave campaigns outside Parliament, he was there every single day getting in our face making a nuisance of himself whilst the rest of us could only do this on intermittent days. He obviously thought he was a cut above the rest of us because we quite rightly had to make our own way to Abingdon Street where the campaigns were held by public transport etc, but he had some sort of permission to leave his car in what was a sensitive security area and was there every single day. However, those of us on the Leave side knew that everything was somehow skewed against us whilst those in authority more than bent over backwards to assist the campaigns of Remain. This evening on BBC News there he was holding his various signs up aloft, whilst little is done to shew him away or change a camera angle to avoid him and his nonsense. How this numpty was able to afford to stand outside parliament everyday bellowing down through a megaphone I just do not know, as he appeared to be working age. And now he is back once again.
I am given to understand that he is/was a collector and dealer in coins. He began his activism on money he had set aside and then began crowd funding to fund his continuing activism.
It is simple. A large part of all our problems are related to energy. A cut in one of these:–The 25 % fuel duty, or 25 % Green levy which cut the cost of energy by say 33 %, cures it and does the job properly. Gives all industry and all . Tax income would take a blow……Good. Let them eat their own medicine. The numbers feeding off the crumbs off the table is huge. Make them think of surviving and their future.
The other thing nobody dare mention is rent in its various importances.
The media have no idea about the vast gap between the Rich and those ” Living on the edge”. .
People running businesses are the ones who have to find the vast sums of tax on their behalf. As well as the mountains on their business. People die from the pressure. And the workers sleep soundly. And politics hands out backhanders For a list of Backhanders, lobbying, parachuting for mates, transactions, directorships an on an on an on.
For most ignorant commentators TAX to them means PAYE Income Tax. All the other taxes are ignored but they kill countries and people.
For popularity: cut income tax, the burden on business will not change. result poverty
For popularity with movers and shakers and and business tax payers; Cut the blatant money grabbing with destructive taxes.
It looks to me like she knows what she’s doing. A welcome change from pure bog ignorance of the Oxford/Politics norm of tories
And can she please get parliament moving forward.
It is not just the high price of energy that is a problem. It is whether there will be any electricity in the national grid, after B.J.’s crazy carbon neutral policies.
As for Liz – well at least she is rightly insisting on CUTTING TAXES.
Agreed Pauline. The “Net Stupido Policy” and the push for “Unreliables”, which affect the whole of Europe, is certainly having the desired effect of taking us back to the Stone Age. Our contribution to Global Warming is around 1%. Whatever we do will have no impact on it, so why are we self-destructing?
Paul Goodman (ConHome) in his live blog called it “the Night of the Knifed Sunaks” – nice one!
Viv- I wonder how long, staunchly British Ritchie Soonack will be here GB before he buzzes off to a wef rigged sinecure somewhere else, say the states?
Depends: if he thinks he can have another go at becoming PM he’ll stay. If not – not. Remember Rory “Afghanistan” Stewart in the competition which Bobo won? He left the Party … what if he’d knuckled udder and worked? He might have been in with a chance, stranger things have happened …
Our new PM once decribed her 18 month affair with former MP Mark Field (whose wife divorced him citing the affair and so revealing it) as a “learning experience”, but, unhelpfully, does not say what exactly it is that she learnt. Following on from serial philanderer Johnson she appears to be qualified for her role, except Johnson had short lived flings whereas Truss was an 18 month deception on her cuckolded husband. She described it as a mistake, but mistakes are accidental, like putting on mismatched socks, and not something conducted for 18 months. I imagine it takes a certain determination and more than a little guile to pursue a secret affair for 18 months. Maybe she is PM material after all though John Major and Edwina Currie managed four years of deception. Is competence in affairs declining? If Mrs Field hadn’t rumbled her husband perhaps Liz would have managed more than 18 months. Does Mrs Field show that women are better at sensing affairs than men? Or are men less able to maintain consistency in deception and Field left one clue too many?
Molière said “The chains of marriage are heavy to bear. It sometimes takes three to carry them” and our new PM must surely agree.
When her husband stood beside her outside number 10 he struck me as looking a bit like Mark Field. Perhaps the new PM has a type.
Mr. Yeoman……….I thought she was married to somebody called Hugh O’Leary and had two teenage daughters. I don’t know that for sure but read it somewhere online. Whether those daughters are her own or whether they are step daughters, again I know not. When she arrived at Downing Street yesterday she was on the arm of a man who I assume must have been Mr. O’Leary. On that score why then is she called Liz Truss and not Liz O’Leary and why do the media insist on addressing her as Miss. Truss as surely, she should be called Mrs. O’Leary. Both Thatcher and May went by their married name, so why not Liz Truss? I just don’t get it……….
When she first campaigned as a Tory councillor she was Elizabeth Truss. I’ve seen the picture. She is Mrs O’Leary but has presumably kept her ‘professional’ name just shortening it to Liz. Not sure when or why.
Here’s a short video for you. Not everybody’s favourite Youtuber but what he has to say here is right and worthy of discussion. He questions why the top jobs in the new cabinet are going to ethnic minorities; after all Priti Patel was a disaster as Home Secretary, she allowed the migrant invasion. It seems that we’re to be ruled over by people with very little understanding or sympathy for the British way of life.
“The top jobs in the new British cabinet have been given to members of ethnic minorities”
There should only be native Brits allowed to stand for Parliament and senior Civil Service jobs should likewise be restricted. That, of course, means ridding ourselves of the woke agenda and every vestige of control by, or submission to, the globalists. I would also suggest that government ministers and Civil Servants should have qualifications and experience relevant to their employment. That is how it (used to?) work in the real world, i.e. outside government, and still applies in sensible countries.
Of course that will upset the immigrants, legal or otherwise, so we must be prepared to deal with occurrences such as the Bradford Riots. That requires increasing the strength of our military to do the job that the “woke” police refuse to do.
Everything appears to be going to plan except for the suckers who vote Tory.
It looks like the Tories can outdo Labour on stuffing their own traditional voters, wrecking the economy, tolerating wokery, green blobbery, mass immigration and now, ‘affirmative action’ too. As the saying in Yorkshire goes, ‘If you catch a weasel asleep, p-ss in its ear’. Well the Tories have been doing that for 50 years to their own voters to my knowledge and still the punters fall for it.
Just think what the situation would be be if the mp for Wimbledon Village of hooray henrys fame, had got in – widely touted by the (woke?) media, and ‘how wonderful she is’ supporting comments on this ID blog.
Parents indian, they moved to suid afrika, moved to nigeria, mother took pregnancy flight to BG (std operating proc), Token British, brought up in usa and nigeria, moved to gb for a free education at 18 and now an mp.
Now I’m hearing woke this, woke that.
Buyers’ remorse? or be careful what you wish for?
Parallel? ‘We shall bring Russia to its knees’ – Truss 2022.
Good luck with that darling!
Well, its the way of the world these days. I think what he said on the video was bordering on racist to be honest, and is on a sticky wicket or sailing close to the wind or treading on thin ice. However you can also put it down to political brinkmanship as well, as the Conservatives are proving that they embrace more diversity than the Labour Party have done in the past and presently do. The party that preaches to the rest of us and talks fondly about diversity in whatever form it takes, rather than actually delivering it, but in my view that is the Labour Party all over. All talk and no action. The Conservatives are now onto their third female party leader and prime minister and have more members of the ethnic minorities on their front bench than Labour do who haven’t even got onto the first rung of the diversity ladder.
I doubt she’ll last two years,” one of her incoming cabinet ministers said. At this rate they are going to outdo UKIP for party leadership changes!
JB- Maybe right. I saw some sky tv last night (visiting).
After an ‘unbiased’ summation, sky’s campaign to oust the present PM has clearly already started.
Jake…………one year in political terms is a long time, and two or three years is a very long time, and I think now all of the controversies that once embroiled UKIP good and bad have now largely been forgotten. When I speak to some people about UKIP, they give the impression that they 1. have never heard of the party or 2. thought the party had folded altogether and disappeared. Certainly now, most people don’t know what the party stands for, and some of those are members and think the Conservatives alone got us out of the European Union. Before long some of these people will say ‘Nigel Farage, who is he? The sad fact is that most people are not interested in politics and have the attention span of a gnat as to who and what the parties are and what they represent.
The welcoming picture in the D.T says it all, ( virtually not a grey hair in sight and not many males either) it’s the woke millenium brigade in charge now, As for her planned visit to Kiev given her speeches in the past and those of Wallace ( still in post) I wonder how many British Service personnel will also be getting a free all expenses paid to Ukraine in the near future.
She needs to understand who provoked who in the Ukrainian conflict and talk with Putin.
She won’t do that until droves of people join centre Right parties and there is no sign of that on ID
It seems we are now governed mostly by the suntanned “minorities”. Woke or what?
Harryagain…I bet you get under the sunbed as well, especially since it is powered by all those solar panels on the roof of your Gaff