IT IS only three weeks since Liz Truss had her first Prime Minister’s Questions.
Back then the praise for her performance was near universal. But, I remember thinking, it was the same with Theresa May.
When May first appeared at the Despatch Box as Prime Minister in 2016 she too was hailed for a strong and resolute performance.
She too did a fine impression of a leader who knew which direction she was going in.
And everybody remembers how that worked out.
Still, I reckon three weeks must be the shortest time in history for the wheels to fall off a government car.
There are those in the Conservative Party who insist that the response to the Government’s mini Budget last week has been exaggerated.
They insist that the markets have over-reacted and that things need time to settle down.
Unbelievably, there are other Conservative MPs who seem to think that the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, should resign or even be sacked.
Still others think it might be time to get rid of Truss.
It never fails to amaze me how the Conservative Party in power can still behave like a bunch of squabbling teenagers.
Then present themselves at every election as the party of responsible government.
Which — when Labour is the Opposition — they may still be, relatively.
But the policy announcements last week do seem to have been what is technically known as an omni-shambles.
It is true that cutting taxes is one of the ways to spur growth.
But you cannot do it at the same time as announcing more borrowing.
Or at least, you can, but you would have to announce new cuts in government spending to pay for the tax cuts and additional borrowing.
In other words, the problem is not any one thing that the Government did, but that it did too many things at once.
It is understandable that the Government might want to help struggling households by capping energy prices.
But what is the plan to pay for this?
Ordinarily a government would lay that out.
It would choose to cut or freeze the ever-swelling budget of the NHS, for instance.
Missing in action
Or it would make cuts in some other department of government.
What is very strange is to refuse to identify where you will make cuts and so end up just adding yet more borrowing to the national balance sheets.
That is why the markets, the Bank of England and others have reacted so badly to the mini Budget.
It was a circus show which sought to defy gravity.
Only for gravity to bring the show crashing down.
Sadly it isn’t even a funny spectacle.
For households across the UK it is deadly serious. Inflation looks set to rise.
The Pound is still tanking against foreign currencies.
And the UK housing market is finally hitting a serious buffer.
Conservative governments forever talk about the need to address the housing market.
Especially the difficulty young people have of getting on the housing ladder. But try buying a house at the moment.
Try finding a mortgage company willing to give you a mortgage and you will see the practical consequences of this Government’s actions.
Deep uncertainty
Banks and other mortgage providers cannot offer fixed rate mortgages because they have no idea what ballpark rates are even going to be in.
Everywhere there is a deep uncertainty.
It did not help that the Chancellor seemed to take the afternoon off last Friday after his bombshell Budget.
Normally, a Chancellor would ring around the banks and major funds after a Budget to quell any nerves.
Kwasi Kwarteng appears to have been missing in action.
As was Liz Truss for almost a week, until she did her round of local radio appearances yesterday morning.
And that is simply not good enough.
Countries — like markets — need reassurance.
We deserve to see our leaders out there defending their policies, however difficult that might be.
That is what real political leadership is about.
It isn’t about making announcements then ducking. It is about making policy and sticking to it.
Of course Truss and Kwarteng are in a bind here.
Because they know that they cannot simply withdraw their mini Budget, or any particular aspect of it.
They are essentially stuck with it.
To withdraw it would mean to lose any and all authority.
Not just in the eyes of the country, but also in the eyes of what Tories often seem to care about more — the Tory Party.
Yet to stick with the whole thing will be to stick with a policy that has already proved fantastically destructive.
Truss has tried to give the impression of strong leadership.
But she has already fallen straight into the trap fallen into by so many of her predecessors.
“Strong and stable leadership.” Remember that?
Tough on PM Truss
CONGRATS to Rima Ahmed of BBC Leeds and John Acres of BBC Stoke for tee-ups in their interviews with Liz Truss yesterday morning.
Ahmed asked what everybody was thinking.
After reeling off all the problems of the past week, she asked Truss: “Where have you been?”
While Acres seemed to make the PM lost for words with his simple questions about her policies.
I suspect Truss thought she would get an easy ride from local radio.
In fact many local radio hosts – on a range of networks – are much punchier interviewers than some of our more stale BBC grandees.
They have a hunger and an appetite for the story.
Something politicians often discover at their peril.
Airline is Virgin on the ridiculous
I WAS thrilled to read yesterday that Virgin Atlantic is scrapping the rules on male and female uniforms in order that crew can “express their identity”.
Because if there is one area of life that is just too terrifyingly heterosexual, it is definitely the world of airline stewards.
So here is another great victory over discrimination.
On a serious note though, I am so bored with companies such as Virgin trying to accrue virtue points by making such announcements.
I don’t care how Virgin’s cabin crews wish to “identify”. The whole thing is tedious.
What I do care about is the identity of the public as customers.
Last time I tried to get hold of an actual human being at Virgin Atlantic, it took a couple of hours of waiting and I eventually gave up.
I’m starting to wonder whether the phone wasn’t picked up because the staff were trying to work out what uniform to wear.
Drop the virtue-signalling, Virgin, and do what you’re meant to do better.
Queen of our arts
FOR years there has been talk about what to do with the fourth and only empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.
It had long been assumed that the spot was being reserved for a statue of the late, great Elizabeth II.
It is perhaps the only thing that could make up for the parade of junk that has gone on that plinth in recent years.
A constant stream of banal and pointless piffle pretending to be “art”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan initially quashed the idea of the Queen’s statue on the plinth before he backed down.
Why? Was it because she wasn’t enough of a “right-on” cause for the plinth?
Perhaps Khan thought such a statue would not represent enough “minorities”?
Of course, we couldn’t have a new work of art in London that spoke to everybody, now, could we?
STUDENTS at Nottingham were pictured returning to university this week, and celebrating in the traditional fresher style that was all the fashion until Covid ruined everything.
After a couple of years of virtual learning hell, I’m hardly surprised they wanted to let their hair down.
But honestly, what a lot of killjoys there are in this country now criticising them.
Personally, when I see gangs of students braving freezing cold temperatures in nothing much more than a pair of budgie smugglers or a miniskirt, it makes me proud to be British.
Making a 'mark
IN a surprise move, Queen Margrethe of Denmark has stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles.
In announcing that they would no longer be known as His or Her Royal Highness, the Queen said it would be “good for them”.
I wonder if there are any lessons Queen Margrethe has taken from another Queen and a different royal grandchild?