When Liz Truss left the lectern at 10 Downing Street after announcing her resignation, she was probably aware that her tenure as Prime Minister would have been shorter than the Conservative Party’s internal campaign that had given her access to the post.
With Boris Johnson gone, many in Britain felt the time had come for stability and competence: the good thing about having a rather dull leader like Truss at the helm is that she knows how to set the British ship on a clear course. But we quickly discovered that she had no sea legs. And his brief tenure will have ended up being even more tumultuous than that of his predecessor.
Liz Truss took office in early September with a radical program which, if implemented, she claimed would revitalize economic growth in the UK. But she had to act very quickly, because the exact opposite happened: her proposals triggered an immediate economic collapse from which she never recovered.
The shortness of his tenure makes it fairly easy to summarize five key elements that explain his downfall.
1. A bad start
From the beginning of his tenure, Truss pursued at least a questionable political line. She has virtually refused to appoint anyone to government who had not supported her during the campaign, leaving her with a limited talent pool.
According to her, you were either a friend or an enemy (and enemies were out of the question). This earned her a reputation as a revanchist and extremist.
It wasn’t a good start. There was a clear lack of skill in her cabinet and after less than two months in office she had to sack her chancellor of the exchequer and her home secretary – the two most prominent government posts after the prime minister.
2. A poor selection process within the party
The cracks had started before Truss took office because of the way the Conservative Party chooses its leaders. Keep in mind that Truss was in the final round of the primaries aimed at naming the figure who would default to succeeding Boris Johnson, and never capitalized on her party’s enthusiastic support.
To win the election, she had to win over the more conservative party base by promising them tax policies tailored entirely to their needs, rather than reflecting the needs or priorities of the country as a whole. She took on a personality modeled on Margaret Thatcher, who proved awkward in terms of image and far too radical in politics.
3. Bad policy
The general impression was that the new tenant of 10 Downing Street was at odds with public opinion and even with the majority of her party members.
That impression was true when its minimalist budget was announced: measures like removing any financial cap on bankers’ bonuses and cutting corporate taxes weren’t the best advertisements as the country plunged into an economic crisis that’s mainly reflected in rising costs of living .
4. A bad presentation
Politics is ultimately a people business. You must be able to communicate, reflect, interact with people and show empathy.
The most important form of intelligence for a prime minister is therefore not intellectual (we have experts for that) or financial (they have advisers) but emotional.
But the fact of the matter is that Truss never seemed able to engage with British citizens or even feel comfortable in his role. His answers to interviews were always too mechanical, his body language too rigid.
5. Bad positioning
If Truss’ problems reveal anything, it most likely reveals the dangers of the British Constitution. It remains focused on seizing political power: an incredibly small number of people can make important decisions with very little – if any – control.
“Bad decisions at all levels” might be an apt epitaph for Truss’ tenure, but one cannot help but wonder if his experience is symptomatic of a much larger problem.
Is it too easy to blame Liz Truss alone? What has happened over the past month has left a vacuum of ambition, imagination and vision at the heart of British politics.
In the post-Brexit context, filling this void must be the central concern of the next person who decides to take the keys to number 10.
This article was republished by The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
