I can relate to Truss’s home discomforts

Just because someone is objectionable, doesn’t mean they’re immune to having a bad time. So it seems was the case for Liz Truss, the country’s shortest serving prime minister, who apparently managed to cram a whole lot of misery into her 49 days in office.

According to an extract from her forthcoming memoir Ten Years to Save the West (weirdly not subtitled “49 Days to Destroy the Economy”), Downing Street was infested with fleas and the fridge in the grace-andfavour country mansion she shared with Dominic Raab was full of his protein shakes.

Look, it’s easy to be arch when misfortune befalls a villain – and Truss is easier than most to cast in that cartoonish role. Though, you have to admit that there’s something poetic about the person whose “mini-Budget” crashed the housing market being subject to experiences characteristic of its worst corners.

Infested with pests? Fridge full of passive aggressively labelled food? Truss could be describing one of the houseshares to which her party’s policies over the past 14 years have condemned a generation of adults.

Poor Truss had to make do with repurposed John Lewis furniture while she waited for hers to appear. I can definitely relate to the handme-down arrangement – like most people my age, I’m more familiar with Facebook Marketplace than a furniture showroom.

I know the pain of fridge-sharing, too; I once lived with someone who was a chef at an old folks’ home – think casserole, gravy, mashed potato; he would bring back the largely liquid leftovers in clingfilm. They leaked less than you’d imagine, but it did mean that the fridge was full of mysterious brown orbs.

All this to say: Liz, I understand. I might never have contended with protesters “chanting and shouting through megaphones” outside my door, but I’m more than familiar with the pain of a housemate who’s decided to host an impromptu party, bass pulsing through the pillow as you clamp it round your head.

Many of us were affected by Truss’s decisions in those 49 days. And arguably, it’s thanks to Truss herself that the public will no doubt react sympathetically to her tale of woe: without her intervention, forcing thousands into depressing flatshares and poor-quality housing, fewer would find her so relatable.