Just weeks ago, Liz Truss threw her Chancellor under the bus, hoping to save her job. No doubt she also wanted to show that, like Margaret Thatcher, this lady’s lady’s not for turning. But Truss failed to appreciate that there was no taming the mob.
MPs force Truss to resign
Tory MPs urged Ms Truss to go after her government was engulfed by political turmoil, following the ditching of most of her economic policies. Ms Truss – who took office 44 days ago – will become the shortest-serving PM in British history when she stands down. …
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for an immediate general election following Ms Truss’s resignation speech.
(BBC, October 20, 2022)
Alas, Truss brought this unprecedented downfall on herself. Indeed, I parodied her shambolic tenure and predicted her demise in “Truss Throws Kwarteng Overboard in Vain Attempt to Save Her Sinking Premiership – Just Like I Said She Would” on October 14, 2020.
The sexism and racism behind Truss’s fall
Truss was the first prime minister to have a cabinet in which a white man held none of the four great offices of state. Arguably, that explains much of the backbench backbiting that dogged her premiership.
It also explains the paternalistic derision with which White men decried the shocking and unprecedented chaos that defined Truss’s premiership. The schadenfreude is now dripping from their lips.
I suspect these MPs hope Truss has wreaked such havoc that no prime minister will ever fail to appoint a White man to one of the four great offices again.
Britain, the pitiful
Britain will now have its fifth prime minister in just six years. That reflects systemic chaos. It has nothing to do with Truss and her non-white appointees.
Moreover, Truss’s White, male, and stale predecessor, Boris Johnson, and his cabinet of lying Brexiteers caused far more chaos. They gave The Economist far greater cause to rephrase the once-vaunted slogan “rule Britannia” mockingly as “Britaly” – with all the chaos and incompetence that connotes.
Of course, Britaly is a not-so-subtle dig at Brexit. It refers to the folly anyone with half a brain knew Brexit was. The damage that farce did to Britain’s reputation on the world stage was as unsurpassable as it was irreparable.
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.