COST OF LIVING AND THE RISING PRICE OF POLITICAL SURVIVAL

EX-PM is ex-MP! She was UK's prime minister for 49 days and lost from a Brexit-backing seat that voted Conservative for 50 years the first former PM to be defeated in 90 years.

- SHANKKAR AIYAR

For sure, Liz Truss cannot be held solely responsible for the post-Brexit mess in the British economy. But her rise and fall that included a disastrous mini-budget and the coinage of the phrase ‘moron-risk premium' in financial markets— will represent a tipping point in British politics. The spectacular 412-seat victory of the Labour Party, nuanced in expression across cultural geographies, saw an astonishing number of cabinet ministers ousted.

Voters in both Dover and Calais are angry. Last week, voters in France, angered by rising prices of food, energy, fuel, rent and water, drove the centrist front of Emmanuel Macron out of the race as they gravitated towards the far-right National Rally led by Marine Le Pen and to the Left. The allure: promises to tax billionaires, cut gasoline taxes, higher wages and early retirement. In desperation, the centrists are courting the Left, pulling out candidates with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal urging voters that "not a single vote" must go to the far right in the second round. The outcomes in France and the UK are a sequel to the European parliament polls where far-right parties cornered a fourth of the 720 seats.