Why the prime minister needs Liz Truss to keep quiet

To win the election, Rishi Sunak not only has to persuade voters that he is delivering an economic recovery but also erase from their memory his predecessor’s disastrous ‘dash for growth’, says Professor John Curtice. Her new book only adds to his agony

Stuck around 24 points in the polls, Rishi Sunak’s party is struggling to escape the adverse political consequences of Liz Truss’s brief tenure in Downing Street (Getty)

Next week, Britain’s shortest ever serving prime minister, Liz Truss, will be giving her side of the story that led to her downfall. Doubtless, her book, Ten Years to Save the West, will stimulate renewed debate about the economic wisdom of her attempt to make a “dash for growth” via unfunded tax cuts. There is little doubt, however, that with a general election looming her party is struggling to escape the adverse political consequences of her brief tenure in 10 Downing Street.

Not that her party was in the best of health when, on 5 September 2022, her victory in that summer’s long leadership battle with Rishi Sunak was announced. The Conservatives were already six points behind Labour on average in the polls when Boris Johnson’s government collapsed at the beginning of July, thanks largely to the revelations about “Partygate”.

However, the ensuing leadership contest – and the looming energy price crisis – saw the Tories’ position weaken even further. Standing at just 31 per cent in the polls, the party was trailing Labour by 10 points when Truss was declared its new leader.