Third Lady PM promises to fix old problems at worst time in UK’s post-war history

THROUGHOUT the ‘bruising’ campaign between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to attract enough votes from ruling Conservative (Tory) Party members to be elected the new Party Leader and Britain’s next Prime Minister, two things were absolutely clear: the lady would have won; and she’d have the biggest job of making Britain’s biggest job work well-enough to ride the country through its worst economic times in four decades.

The foreplay ahead of the campaign to replace Boris Johnson, after he unwillingly resigned on July 7 had astonished those not au fait with the workings of Britain’s unwritten constitutional Westminster electoral system, which had seen Johnson forced to leave office when he was no longer considered an election winner — just as he’d forced his predecessor Theresa May out when she didn’t seem able to defeat the opposition Labour Party under Jeremy Corbin, just like she’d replaced David Cameron after the Tories lost the national Brexit vote by a razor-thin margin.

Johnson has repeatedly claimed that when he went to Buckingham Palace in 2019 to be appointed Prime Minister, Queen Elizabeth had asked him: “Who wants to be a PM in these times?”

That was before Climate Change started its latest change-for-the-worse, or the supply chain, or the unexpected blowbacks from sanctions against Russia that raised food and energy prices globally – and long before the UK became the worst-affected by post-Ukraine economic costs across Europe, where energy bills will increase by 80 per cent next month and average households will have to find 300 per cent more income to meet cost-of-living bills.

And the British Pound is at its lowest-ever against the US Dollar; and the Bank of England is warning a recession can follow the worst winter Europe will know, later this year.

Ms Truss was the 15th UK prime minister appointed and anointed by the Queen in her 70-year reign and the fifth born after she first sat on the throne, the third woman to hold the post.

But given QE2’s post-COVID mobility issues, the next PM had to fly to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for her royal appointment – an unprecedented development.

At 47 and with two teenage daughters, Truss flew to the Scottish castle by jet, in bad weather, arriving 10 minutes late for her majestic appointment.

Like Johnson, his successor left London as the new Tory political leader and returned a few hours later as the new prime minister.

An unapologetic and unrepentant admirer of her predecessor, PM Truss has taken over at Number 10, named a multi-talented and diversified Cabinet with women and people of colour in key positions (like Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary) and outlined her immediate plans within hours of taking office.

A Cabinet Minister since 2012 and longest-serving today, the ex-foreign secretary has also inherited a long list of problems in the PM’s inbox and expectations are more-than-high that she will repair every one sooner than later.

Flying and being driven back to London in similar bad weather as when she left, the new PM eventually delivered another prepared speech (the first after her victory over Sunak was formally announced), again saying all the right things – starting by (again) heaping praise on her predecessor for leading the overwhelming Tory defeat of Labour under popular Leader Jeremy Corbin in 2019, delivering on election promises while in office, standing by Ukraine, “standing-up to Putin” and repeating just how honoured she is to have succeeded him as leader of “the greatest party in the world…”

The new PM will have to find at least £100 Billion to heal Britain’s deepening economic wounds, but reassured that “I campaigned as a conservative and will govern as a conservative”, the fan of Britain’s first lady PM Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down economics promises to “cut taxes and grow the economy” – and to so fix the broken National Health Service (NHS) as to ensure “people can get doctors’ appointments…”

Polling 81,236 votes against Sunak’s 60,399 out of 172, 437 cast by 82.6 per cent of registered Conservative Party members across the UK, Truss won by just over 20,000 – much less than expected.

Following the battlefield-style campaign between two arch conservatives that divided the party down-the-middle behind her and Sunak, Truss didn’t address rebuilding party unity, but said the campaign showed “the depth and breadth of talent” in the party’s leadership.

Saying “Now is the time to tackle the issues that have been holding Britain back” and expressing confidence her party “has what it takes to fix the problems”, the new PM promised she’ll “not be daunted by the challenges we face” and to lead Britain to “ride-out the storm”.

The new tenant at 10 Downing Street promised to unveil her energy plans “this week”, while also focusing on “the economy and health” as well as “hospitals and schools, roads and broadband” to “reduce the burdens on families.”

She also said she “will use all the talents available in our party” to “build the Modern Britain I know we can deliver” and “a great Tory victory in 2024” (one year ahead of the next due national poll) – something that can see her inviting her predecessor and the defeated competitor to join the mammoth task of restoring party unity and regaining public confidence.

By now, Truss already has a much better understanding of the overall magnitude of the portfolio of unprecedented problems she’s inherited and why she cannot govern like she campaigned.

The usual press and public speculation about where any new prime minister might be heading also greeted the new PM on Day One, but the one thing no one even dares to think out loud about is whether the Queen may (or may not) have, three years later, repeated to his successor what Johnson claims she asked him — about ‘Who wants to be a Prime Minister’ right now.