In 1994, Paddy Ashdown was trying to appear less Lib Demmy in an attempt to win over middle-of-the-road voters. The base had none of that. Against the wishes of the leadership, delegates voted to decriminalize pot and introduce a minimum wage, making Ashdown look incompetent, and Truss understood this perfectly when she spoke in an anti-monarchy debate. He even had the gall to quote Paddy himself: “Everyone in Britain should have a chance to be somebody.” This was very different from William Hague’s infamous speech at the conference in 1977. Truss was keen to embarrass her party leader – and the conference, replayed for laughs today, was taken very seriously at the time. It was the main feature on Newsnight. So Liz Truss has always been a contrarian, so why are Tory members – the epitome of ‘don’t rock the boat’ voters – on the brink of electing her leader? When Michael Gove came out for Rishi Sunak at the weekend, some pundits welcomed the intervention as a rare voice of reason against right-wing kamikaze. Why, when the country is in such a mess, would anyone take a bet on Liz? The answer is precisely because things are so bad. The economy is rotten and getting worse and the Tories will go to the polls in two years against a Labor Party that no longer looks demonstrably insane. In these circumstances, voting for the low-tax Truss is a risk – but so is maintaining the status quo. Gove cited a struggling local restaurant, suffocating on energy bills, as a reason to back Sunak. But stick with Rishi, Team Truss would reply, and the Crown Royal is doomed anyway, because Treasury orthodoxy is leading us into recession. The main problem is that we haven’t done capitalism right. The longer we go on, the more likely Labor will win and we will get socialism. Acknowledging the damage caused by events beyond our control, such as Covid or Ukraine, Truss fans point out that we have endured over a decade of weak growth, productivity and wages. You might ask, “Isn’t this the party in power to blame?” They would agree. What should have happened, they argue, is that the Bank of England should have created a reliable currency with low inflation, allowing the Treasury to be creative with fiscal policy. Instead, the Bank ran low interest rates and pumped the economy with easy money, while the Treasury implemented austerity by raiding our pockets. He vetoed effective deregulation, wasting Brexit. And the postponement of political consensus has left us in many pickles at once. Why, ask the Trussites, didn’t we fight years ago? Because the public doesn’t like it? Great: so beat them with cash and sense. This is why the tax is central to the leadership contest and the Trust’s position has, again, been misconstrued. It doesn’t suggest many life-changing cuts. he mainly wants to reverse Rishi’s rises. It’s about avoiding a recession. it is about setting a pro-business direction. But it is also about restating the basic principles of a free society. We all know he’ll need to quickly set up an emergency budget and include targeted cash payments to help with winter fuel bills. He never ruled that out. But before he does anything, he first wants to pay back the money he most recently took from voters through, say, National Insurance increases. Truss intends to begin by reestablishing as the overriding principle that before the state attempts to do any good, it should first do less harm. If Team Truss wins, the three priorities will be clearing the NHS backlog, cutting taxes and expanding the energy supply. They despise Twitter and the broadcast media. They are optimistic about being initially unpopular. They know the economy will be in bad shape, but their eyes are on the next election when, they hope, voters will look at their bills and conclude that taxes and bills are at least headed in the right direction. It’s one of the ironies of this contest that Sunak is presented as the safe and stable candidate, but he’s prone to spin and short-term bromides – while Truss, supposed to be a mere cheese-obsessed flipper, is the one whose agenda is a long-term construction project that invites opposition. If the rumors of her Cabinet appointments are correct (John Redwood! Suella Braverman!), they suggest a sharp turn to the Right that will make heads turn. Truss doesn’t care about being popular. Some detect a touch of impostor syndrome in her: in the past, she was always seen as the first to take the sack in a reshuffle. I was told he was the last person who thought he should run, until support reached critical mass. Today, however, there are no signs of that nervousness. In private conversation, one notices that he has tremendous energy. locates politics in philosophy. if he has something to say, he’ll get it done, even if it requires talking over your ill-informed objections. And more importantly, her views may have changed since 1994, but the lady’s love for a good scrap remains as strong as ever.
