Emily Sheffield: Despite everything, I still don't know who the real Liz Truss is

BEFORE the 2016 referendum, a minister in the then-Cameron government, who was voting for Brexit, asked Liz Truss, with whom they worked closely, which way she was going to swing.

- Emily Sheffield

She replied, with little hesitation, that although she believed in Brexit, because it was highly likely the Leave camp would lose the vote, it would be "politically disastrous" for her career, so she was going to support Remain.

Given the poll lead by Truss among Tory members, especially the over65s who have overwhelmingly voted for tax cuts and Boris Johnson (a Truss vote is a Johnson loyalty vote), we already know who our next prime minister is. Bar a huge upset in the coming weeks, Britain is set for two years of "unleashing" under Liz.

What this anecdote does tell us is that Truss will do whatever is politically expedient. In this she is the true inheritor of Johnson politics. Navigating Westminster does require guile. And what upended Johnson more than any other factor was his inability to tell the truth (although this had its roots in sticking to what was politically expedient for his career, of course).