Truss's U-Turn Hunt & Farage Return?

The PM could have called an election. Instead she called time on much of her own agenda.

Well it certainly feels like a lot has happened since the last edition of my newsletter!

Quite an extraordinary turn of events that has resulted in an outcome that I know Brexiteers are furious about.

The hope was that Liz Truss was going to be radical, allowing for instance her Home Secretary Suella Braverman to lead the UK out of the ECHR.

Instead Truss has seemingly abandoned much of the policy agenda that won her the Conservative leadership race, made Jeremy Hunt her Chancellor and has led to Nigel Farage hinting at a sensational comeback.

In fairness to Truss, a large number of her own MPs have not exactly given her an easy time. But I was expecting her to fight for her agenda. Moving away from establishment orthodoxies requires leadership, determination and grit.

It was looking increasingly likely to me that Truss had two options: try to win authority by calling a General Election or abandon much of her own agenda. Well it’s fair to say she has done the latter, with devastating consequences.