“Why is she asking one of her biggest rivals for the job to take her place? She’II totally show her up,” one said. It was hard to see the cabinet minister’s performance as anything other than an audition for the top job.
Mordaunt did little to dispel that impression as she landed punchy attacks on the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, roused the depressed Tory troops and offered an apology to the country for the instability caused by the PM’s dramatic climb down. Truss had done none of these things publicly, though probably should have.
Nevertheless, it was Truss’s refusal to show up herself that most riled MPs. Mordaunt repeatedly assured them there was a genuine reason” why she was not there. In one particularly bizarre exchange, she insisted: The prime minister is not under a desk.”
But where was she? Truss was, the Guardian revealed, holed up with Sir Graham Brady, the powerful chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, in her Commons office. Downing Street sources claimed it was a planned meeting, rather than crisis talks, but conceded it was inevitable her fragile position would have come up. Truss’s decline from shiny new PM to being in office but very much not in power has been a sorry story of misjudgments, blinding ideology and inexperience. But the last 24 hours have underlined how weak she is.
When they met at Chequers on Sunday lunchtime for a three hour meeting, her new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt now the most powerful man in the government was clear. If she wanted to avoid an economic crisis and restore any shred of Tory competence, Trussonomics had to be junked.
In the privacy of the mansion, with just their closest aides around them, Hunt went through what was left of the mini-budget line by line. The 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax would have to go, he told her, and the energy support package would have to be substantially scaled back.
Denne historien er fra October 18, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra October 18, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Beaumont may step in at RFU if Ilube quits over pay fiasco
Sir Bill Beaumont could be parachuted into the Rugby Football Union as interim chair in the event Tom Ilube falls on his sword amid the botched handling of the executive pay scandal engulfing the game.
'An exciting new era' Everton owners promise return to glory days after £500m deal
The Friedkin Group vowed to restore Everton to their \"rightful place in the Premier League table\" after completing a takeover that brought the turbulent era of Farhad Moshiri to an end.
Friedkin Group brings hope of much-needed stability and ambition
The Friedkin Group's takeover of Everton represents a momentous day for those exhausted and resigned to calamity by the tenure of Farhad Moshiri.
A humble Hamilton hero who was born to score
Ex-coaches in New Zealand on Chris Wood's rise from selfless schoolboy to poster boy at Nottingham Forest
Solanke puts Spurs through despite Forster's blunders
Like a song that changes time signature for the hell of it, like a friend that inexplicably blanks you, like a match report that noodles away for ages instead of just telling you what happened, Tottenham Hotspur remain medically incapable of doing things the simple way.
“The World Cup loss fuelled a fire in me to become the best’
Ellie Kildunne's infectious enthusiasm for the women's game has her dreaming of a Twickenham final in 2025
'Usyk is fighting for his country': Dubois tips Fury to lose rematch
Daniel Dubois, the IBF world heavyweight champion, believes that Oleksandr Usyk will again defeat Tyson Fury in Riyadh tomorrow night.
Coe pledges radical reform in bid for IOC presidency
Sebastian Coe has promised to radically transform the International Olympic Committee if he is elected its next president in March - and says his track record of delivering at the London 2012 Games and at World Athletics shows he is the right choice for the leading job in sport.
Football's new fetish Forget Nicolas Jover and stylish set-piece coaches, bring on the directors of vibes
It's 25 October 2012. Those of you who follow the Austrian regional leagues won't need reminding.
Rush to start work caused enormous cost overruns, says new boss of HS2
Enormous budget overruns on the HS2 high-speed railway have been blamed by its new chief executive on a \"rush to start\", as the Department for Transport admitted it did not know what the line would cost.
