‘She’s just so bad at everything’: Tory MPs turn on Truss

Liz Truss’s Downing Street press conference has made everything worse, as far as Tory MPs are concerned. As soon as it was over, a number of backbenchers who had supported Truss for leader were locked into a call with Thérèse Coffey, the PM’s closest friend in Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister. Those on the call said it was ‘like a wake,’ with even Coffey sounding ‘broken.’ ‘You could see the loss in her eyes,’ said one. Coffey reiterated the points the Prime Minister had made in No. 10, before taking questions.

The ‘wake’ line is one you hear a lot at the moment. A number of MPs who went to one of Truss’s ‘policy lunches’ in Downing Street yesterday used the same word to describe the atmosphere. Few wanted their photo with the Prime Minister – which is unusual, telling and also a particular insult for a politician who has built a brand using selfies. ‘One colleague literally ran from the meeting because they were so embarrassed and didn't want to be captured on film,’ said another who was present.

The view that things are at a terrible point for the PM is shared by those who supported her, and by those who didn’t. It is widely accepted that the abrupt press conference made things worse, with the most charitable reaction I’ve found being that Truss was always going to do badly given she’s well known to be a bad communicator. ‘She’s just so bad at everything,’ complains another MP. One senior backbench says:

“She’s got to go. I just wish she would do an Estelle Morris and admit she’s not up to the job.

Another supportive MP, who says he would still ‘just about’ back her in a theoretical vote of no confidence, watched the press conference and the ensuing fallout and said: 

“She has made everything a lot worse. I don't see how removing the chancellor makes anything better. It's got worse to the extent that 24 hours ago I couldn't believe the suggestion that Rishi and Penny might take over, but now I really think it's a possibility.

But what happens now? As I wrote earlier, the working assumption among most Tory MPs is that a critical mass of letters will be going to Sir Graham Brady over the weekend. That doesn’t mean Truss will go, given the rules prevent another vote. Some MPs suspect that the premiership has a lot longer to limp on: ‘Theresa and Boris lasted a long time,’ points out one minister. ‘It’s very hard to get rid of them.’ May also gave baffling press conferences in Downing Street. Others think the most likely option is that the senior MPs who do want to stand to be the next PM get together over the next few days and agree some kind of anointed successor to Truss before going to her and telling her the game is up. This does, as one Truss loyalist puts it, ‘rely on my colleagues not being determined that they are the person who will save the Tory party and putting their own ambition to one side.’ That in itself is quite unlikely.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are calling for a general election now, but Tory MPs aren’t going to vote for that in the Commons given they and their colleagues will lose their seats. Every Tory has their own different theory now – but what tends to unite them all is a sense that Truss has thrown away her power, even if she still has a while to go in office.