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| Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng (Image: NPR) |
Conservative MPs are playing a dangerous game with the UK. The cost of heating our homes and businesses has never been higher; their focus should be on working together, to find ways of keeping prices down, so millions won't worry about affording life's basics as the coming months get darker and colder. Their focus should be on tackling homelessness and on reducing carbon emissions. Their focus should be on everything else apart from what they're doing right now - fighting amongst each other and plotting to oust yet another Prime Minister.
We saw it with the Labour Party between 2015 and 2019. When Jeremy Corbyn was elected by party members, it wasn't the change his MP colleagues wanted, and they spent years making his life hell. History is repeating itself, this time for the party in blue. Liz Truss has been Prime Minister for a small number of weeks and - despite receiving enough colleagues to support her to be shortlisted in the Tory leadership election, and despite receiving 57.4% of the vote from party members - many are predicting she won't last at 10 Downing Street beyond Hallowe'en, or Christmas, if she's lucky.
It's absolute carnage at Westminster, and reckless. Tories used to be good at defending the indefensible. Since coming to power in 2010, they defended austerity remarkably well, they defended Brexit despite a stagnation of economic growth. They also defended their recent record on the cost of living, despite former Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently admitting he'd not done enough. They also did a terrific job in defending him as leader, until they realised there was a limit. And, of course, both him and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak - who lost the recent leadership battle - are among the favourites to replace Truss.
Truss has had no honeymoon period. Like anyone else in her position, she wanted one and thought it was going to happen before (now former) Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, announced their mini-budget. It was received disastrously; the financial markets gasped, the pound flopped and the Bank of England needed to intervene. They didn't react well to the reversal of the 1.25% national insurance hike Sunak introduced, the corporation tax freeze, and the cap of energy bills to an average of £2,500 per annum - a rise from £1,200 pre-April 2022, a rise from £1,900 post-April 2022 (not intervened by, yes, Mr Sunak) and a previously announced rise to £3,500 which, again, Sunak was happy to keep if he was leader. Perhaps most of all, the markets - and the rest of the country, in fact - were aghast by the announcement to reduce the top rate of tax from 45% to 40%. That's thankfully been scrapped, as too has the corporation tax freeze, but they've not been enough to assure critics.
Apart from the mindless decision to reduce tax for the rich, I could see what Truss and Kwarteng were doing. They felt that by announcing this mini-budget, more money will be in people's pockets. There's an element of truth in that. Don't be shocked when I say this, but I'd rather my energy bills be what Truss has brought to the table than Sunak. Do you seriously believe that the media headlines would be sympathetic towards him, if his policies of 'sitting back and do little' were to go ahead?
The problem was this - the Tory leadership shortlist back in the summer provided party members a woeful choice of either voting for a leader that would satisfy people's pockets (albeit in the shorter-term), or one who'd satisfy the markets and banks (who ultimately, aren't trusted by the public). Truss thought she'd take the easier route, and it's backfired.
The calls for her to go in recent days have been relentless. The atmosphere in and around Westminster has never been this toxic and cut-throat. Truss doesn't quite know what to do. She's been so used to following others to further her career (to think 25 years ago, she was an EU-loving, anti-monarchy Liberal Democrat), she now needs to take a leap and stand for what she truly believes in, whatever that really is.
Of course, Labour's loving this. The party is way ahead in every political poll. Leader Keir Starmer firmly believes he's leading the next government and wants it to happen right away, despite us not really knowing how his vision will balance the satisfaction of the public and the markets. Labour is desperate for a general election today, despite it being scheduled to take place in 18-24 months from now.
To be frank, a general election won't make a blindest difference, even if Labour do win. The culture in Westminster is too volatile - any change, for better or worse, will be met with sheer panic, paranoia and pettiness. In this climate, nobody will last ten minutes, Starmer as Prime Minister included. Sadly, nowadays, any misstep in politics means calls for the chop. Get rid of Truss now and that could mean more weeks of Tory in-fighting that we saw during the summer months and thus more upheaval in society. A period of calm is needed, and it starts by actually focusing on improving people's lives, not on whose political careers we want to enhance or trouble.
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