Liz Truss held a press conference today to try and offer some reassurance amid her chaotic leadership of the county.
In reality she achieved the exact opposite.
Fresh from sacking her Chancellor and closest ally Kwasi Kwarteng after just five weeks in the job, the beleaguered Prime Minister strode out in front of the nation to announce yet another screeching U-turn.
Having already rowed back on huge chunks of her flagship budget plan - and sacked the man she put in place to deliver it - she today confirmed another dramatic change of course, scrapping her plan to drop a rise in Corporation Tax that had been scheduled by her predecessors in government.
READ MORE: Kwasi Kwarteng sacked as Chancellor amid chaos in government
But it wasn't just about the humiliating u-turn or the fact she was holding it after removing her closest colleague, but the manner of the event itself was excruciating.
After giving a short, stilted speech she answered just four questions from selected journalists. The answers were wooden and brief and she scooted off stage after a grand total of just seven minutes.
The performance has led to everyone reaching a very similar conclusion. That the press conference actually made things worse and that Ms Truss' time at the top will surely end soon.
Westminster journalists were united in their assessment. HuffPost UK political Editor Kevin Schofield said: "That Liz Truss press conference was a car crash. The silences. The awkwardness. The robotic answers. Will do nothing to convince Tory MPs she should stay on as PM."
Financial Times journalist Sebastian Payne said: "Whatever the opposite of reassuring Conservative MPs is called, it was that Liz Truss press conference."
Sky News Political Editor Beth Rigby said she was texted by a Tory MP who said: "Even by her standards that was really bad." She quoted another as saying "she has to go."
Another Conservative MP told the Mirror's Dan Bloom: “I suspect she’ll be gone within weeks."
Liverpool University Politics Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg was shocked by the performance. He said: "Just caught up on the PM’s press conference. OMG. Her statement was really poor and made no real sense at all, but the Q&A was absolutely excruciating. Really, truly awful."
It was a truly disastrous effort from a Prime Minister who has never been a good communicator but has never looked as lost as she did today. As Ms Truss fled the scene after a matter of minutes, she looked as if she was taking any hopes of staying in power beyond a few more weeks with her.
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