When Liz Truss won Britain's Tory party leadership contest last month, I asked if Truss could gain the trust of U.K. voters:
The only other thing which could benefit Truss other than time is if she exceeds expectations. Of course, Johnson set the bar so low that Truss might be able to overcome it. However, one should not underestimate the Tories' tendency towards cruelty and scandal. When it comes to Liz Truss, the jury is out on her for the foreseeable future.
Well, in scarcely six weeks, the verdict is clear. Truss has succeeded in giving the Labour Party a 30 point lead in the polls and become an annoyance to King Charles III. For all the Tories propensity towards cruelty and scandal, I completely underestimated Truss' sheer incompetence.
The source of this incompetence was Truss' tax cut proposal for the wealthy without having a plan to pay for it. This set off a panic in the British markets causing the pound to nearly collapse resulting in a rise in mortgage payments. The Bank of England had to intervene to stabilize the market. Boris Johnson set a very low bar and yet somehow Truss has tripped over it thereby managing to make Johnson look good.
Yesterday, Truss reversed course on the policy and sacked her Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng after only 38 days on the job. That's just about four Scaramuccis. But given that this was the central plank in Truss' economic policy and she picked Kwarteng to implement it how long can she expect to stay at 10 Downing Street? Is she another Scaramucci away from joining Kwarteng on the unemployment line?
Technically, Truss won't be subject to a leadership review until next September. But the Tories could change those rules and try to force her resignation. After all, Truss has become an albatross around their necks. Or in this case an albatruss.
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