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It promised to usher in a golden era of prosperity for all, rich and poor, with a laser-like focus on igniting the lethargic economy.
But yesterday, after the most disastrous month for Tory politics perhaps since the Suez crisis, a stake was driven through the heart of Trussonomics.
Watching Liz Truss put on a brave face in the Commons as new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt shredded almost all of her and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget was excruciating.
To say this, the biggest and swiftest U-turn in recent British political history, was humiliating is a massive understatement.
Yes, she holds the seal of prime ministerial office – but only by her fingertips.
Her authority and credibility are as good as shot. The sharks in her party have smelled blood – and circle menacingly.
Watching Liz Truss put on a brave face in the Commons as new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt shredded almost all of her and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget was excruciating
The tragedy, of course, is this unmitigated disaster need never have happened.
The mini-Budget was the right thing to do in principle and contained many perfectly reasonable, defendable measures.
Without becoming more dynamic and competitive through cuts to taxes and red tape, Britain risked serious decline.
But the execution was so ham-fisted it rattled the markets, triggering a damaging economic chain reaction – including a rise in mortgage costs – for which the Government may never be forgiven.
Mr Hunt’s statement, fast-tracking £32billion of savings, appeared to reassure the City that the Government would balance the books. Gone is the boosterism of the Boris Johnson era. The Tories now offer voters tax rises and spending cuts.
The Chancellor junked the 1p cut in the basic tax rate, hitting millions of struggling households. Raising corporation tax damages jobs, investment and growth (and hurts consumers through higher prices).
Cutting off the eye-wateringly expensive energy price cap in April, however, is sensible. If still needed, it should target vulnerable households and businesses.
Pleasingly, Miss Truss’s pledge to spike the national insurance hike has been kept.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt threatened a fresh era of austerity, with efficiencies from Whitehall departments.
Of course, the public sector unions and BBC will shroud-wave. But savings can surely be made. The unreformed NHS swallows billions while failing patients. The civil service has ballooned since Covid.
With Miss Truss badly weakened, Mr Hunt is now the most powerful man in Government – unilaterally deciding what Britain’s tax and spending agenda will be.
But who has given him a mandate for that economic prospectus? No one. In a carefully choreographed coup d’etat, the anti-Boris, anti-Truss faction within the party has helped install their man as Chancellor.
With Miss Truss badly weakened, Mr Hunt is now the most powerful man in Government – unilaterally deciding what Britain’s tax and spending agenda will be
Come the next election, what would be their offer to the voters? High taxes, low growth and unreformed public services?
The reality is, there is no point in any Conservative government unless it stands for lower taxes, a smaller state, more efficient public services and higher growth than the Labour opposition could deliver.
Tory MPs, fearing for their seats, are flapping about the calamitous state of the polls. Having created this mess by foolishly overthrowing Mr Johnson over some birthday cake, perhaps they should show some contrition. Ditching a popular and proven election winner, who knocked spots off Sir Keir Starmer, was an act of monumental and unforgivable stupidity.
By lurching from crisis to self-inflicted crisis, the Conservatives risk irrevocable damage to the party, its electoral fortunes and, as a result, the whole country.
It’s time for the wise men and women of the Conservative Party to decide whether the loss of confidence in Miss Truss is terminal. If it is, they must come to a solution – and fast – that can command the support of MPs and the millions of Tory voters looking on in horror.
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