Liz Truss: Not a Popular Leader for a Troubled Britain

Liz Truss became the 15th and last prime minister to be appointed by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

She came to power not via a general election but after winning the majority of votes in a Conservative Party [or Tory] leadership election decided by fewer than two lakhs dues-paying party activists.

Her main rival, former Chancellor of the Exchequer [of Indian parentage but born in the UK] was more popular among sitting Conservative or Tory MPs.

Public opinion polls show the opposition Labour Party [with social democratic orientation] with its strongest lead in a decade. A majority of Britons believe Truss will not make a convincing prime minister, and only a quarter consider her an improvement from Boris Johnson, her controversial and polarizing predecessor.

Moreover, she will be unable to muster Johnson’s uncontainable optimism and “Darkened skies already hang low over her nascent premiership” (WaPo/The Washington Post).

In addition to the war in Ukraine and the fallout of Brexit (UK’s exit from the EU), Truss has inherited a vast range of economic and political problems.

The Bank of England predicts the UK will suffer protracted recession starting this October. Inflation already stands at 10 percent, with economists warning that 15 percent is quite possible. “There’s an impending cascade of woes: A mammoth cost-of-living crisis is driving a historic drop in living standards” (WaPo). Two-thirds of British households may face “fuel poverty” by the end of 2022, struggling to pay for the surging costs of heating their homes. [Across the channel, Germany and the EU are claiming that the situation is not so dire there].

In various sectors of the economy, industrial action has already started, with strikes shutting down train services, garbage collection and the operation of ports.