Liz Truss’s first outing as Prime Minister, in front of a packed Commons at midday, was a test of character and policy.
She dodged opening questions about her controversial comments that British workers need “more graft” and she was served an easy bat from former leader Theresa May congratulating her on being the third female Prime Minister, all three of them being Tories.
Truss was cheered by her backbenchers, for now, and given a tough ride for her previous gaffes and her idealogical commitment to lowering taxes by the opposition.
It was a marked change in tone from the appearances at the despatch box by Boris Johnson and taught us a few things about the new Prime Minister's vision for the nation.
Here's what we picked up about Liz Truss:
She is all about tax cuts
Truss spelled it out in terms, she is against a windfall tax on oil and gas companies who will make massive excess profits on the back of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
She is against increases in corporation tax, she is against national insurance rises, which she will reverse, and she is not scared to say so. The one theme of her government will be tax cuts.
“There’s nothing new about a Labour leader calling for more tax rises,” she said to cheers from her own side.
She is in campaign mode
She may have avoided media interviews but eight weeks on the road in front of the party faithful and in the public eye have not done Truss any harm.
She is not the wooden, awkward performer that left the Commons before the summer recess. The Queen’s handshake, crossing the threshold of Downing Street and standing at the despatch box, give hers some of the authority she previously lacked.
She slowed it all down
Liz Truss hasn’t changed her voice but she has noticeably slowed her diction and delivery down. Speaking at a quarter speed, to give emphasis to every word, is an old Barack Obama trick.
For Truss, who has a credibility problem with the public, it worked. She looked calm at the despatch box and was ready with putdowns for Starmer and quips against Ian Blackford. It looks like she does her homework and is frightened of nobody.
She is ready to goad the SNP
Truss was the new act in the show but Starmer and Blackford trotted out their same act. The Labour leader, probably to his relief, was able to focus on policy and the big dividing line - who pays for the unavoidable government bail out of energy companies to keep the domestic bills low this winter and next?
Blackford went on the same attack line but Truss hit back with a jibe on nuclear power, which has become a bit of a theme of Conservative attack lines. She said she wanted more nuclear plants and the SNP should too, knowing full well nationalist party and government are against more new nuclear in Scotland.
She doesn’t have any time to get it wrong
Truss will not be judged on her first one hundred days in office, that conventional measure of a leader’s success or failure, she will be judged on the first three days.
Details of the new Prime Minister’s energy freeze will be unveiled tomorrow in the Commons. How she sells the policy, and how she explains how it will be paid for, is probably the one issue that will define her time in office. It is make or break for the Truss premiership and it is barely 72 hours old.
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