There is absolutely no doubt that the prime minister is in deep trouble.
The girl has fired her prime ministercommit The second major turnaround on her small budgetand to the core of her economic policy.
And she did so, awkwardly and uncomfortably, for no more than eight minutes.
Government descends into chaos as PM faces battle for survival – follow live updates
In an interesting press conference – so short that the political press group assembled was made public when she left – Liz Truss made her already dangerous political position even worse.
The purpose of this sudden change of direction was to try to appease the market and her Conservative colleagues, but instead she left the big questions unanswered.
It is important to emphasize the importance of what the prime minister has just announced.
First, on policy, she defied and reversed her stance on corporate taxes. She will now continue with the increase suggested by her leadership rival, Rishi Sunak.
During the campaign to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader, Ms Truss has said raising the rate from 19% to 25% next April will “put off people who want to invest in Britain” and could “cut off our nose to take away our face.”
It was a crucial part of the foundation on which she was elected Tory leader, now humiliatingly scrapped to bring in around £18 billion to fill the black hole left by last month’s small budget. .
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‘You don’t have your depth, Prime Minister?’
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Ministers say Prime Minister ‘cannot survive’ – so how does Liz Truss get rid of?
She said this is a “prepayment” in the medium-term fiscal plan that will be rolled out on October 31 – a signal to the markets that she is prepared to make more reversals if necessary, needs.
Does she still believe it will make people stop investing? We don’t know because she didn’t stay at the press conference long enough to be asked.
After sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as prime minister, she expressed her sadness – but again, without answering the explicit question of how she could justify his departure without me.
Liz Truss and former prime minister Kwasi Kwarteng
The prime minister, who was said to be one of her closest political friends, was also humiliatingly removed – along with the radical economic mandate of the government she had asked him to lead.
The way in which the prime minister delivers this news is really important. Not only because of the lack of thoroughness that comes from taking only four questions and barely participating in their answers – but because her team, and indeed the market, will be watching to see how she handles herself. how to handle the situation.
That press conference wasn’t just about communicating with the public. The messages I received from Conservative MPs ahead of the press conference made it clear that she needed to put on a really strong and reassuring performance.
Their fear is that she is out of her depth. They want to see that she can take over as prime minister. And the early signs are that her performance today failed on both fronts.
One congressman texted me saying it was “astonishingly bad”, even by Liz Truss’ standards.
Jeremy Hunt has replaced Kwasi Kwarteng as prime minister
The placement of Jeremy Hunt as the new prime minister may be intended to show that the ship is stabilizing – that someone with deep experience in government at the helm of the economy and markets need not fear other surprises.
But power flows from No. 10. The Prime Minister is the head of government. It is the Prime Minister who must command the confidence of the Commons if they are to remain in office.
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This general has a profound appearance. “It won’t last,” is how one cabinet minister told me.
