Liz Truss put in a battling performance in today’s Prime Minister's Questions against a backdrop she is about to be ousted by her own party.
Falling in the middle of another tumultuous week for the PM, who only took office last month, Labour frequently attacked Ms Truss on her economic U-turns. They also repeatedly asked her when she will leave her post.
However, after the initial fierce, quick-fire exchange between Truss and Sir Keir Starmer — which seemed to unsettle the PM — she seemed to steady the ship as the questions came in. Despite her creditable performance, there remains a feeling that Ms Truss is on the ropes.
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Labour’s attack line began from the off, as its party's leader looked to ridicule Ms Truss' short time as PM. “A book is being written about the Prime Minister’s time in office, apparently it’s going to be out by Christmas,” Sir Keir Starmer began. “Is that the release date or the title?”
His joke drew laughter from the backbenches and widespread jeering, and set the tone for the battles between the pair. Sir Keir would point to a U-turn, and Ms Truss would hit back with her record of delivery and claiming Labour supports ‘militant unions’ in the rail workers’ strike.
Labour attempted to deliver a second body blow to the PM by listing those U-turns, with opposition MPs shouting ‘gone!’ following each reversal. This was the high point for the party which is riding high in the polls at 51 per cent, according to YouGov.
That did draw an apology from Ms Truss on her economic record. "I have been very clear that I am sorry and I have made mistakes," she said. However, the PM recovered to deal with questions from both sides on social care and mental health treatment — pointing out that her Health Secretary Therese Coffey had a plan in place for both.
She also very ably dispatched Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, who asked why the government was debating policy next which ‘abolish our right to watch the Olympics free of charge and airline consumer laws’. “I think we have yet another example of someone who does not want to support the British public’s decision to leave the EU in 2016,” the PM retorted to cheers from her MPs. “Isn’t it quite incredible that six years on, there are people who object to taking EU law off our statute book?”
All in all, though, there is a feeling that Ms Truss’ performance was aided by the fact that there was no killer attacking question from her own backbenches, which became a feature of PMQs during the fall of Boris Johnson. That being said, should the PM continue to have weeks as poor as the past one has been, the likelihood of unfriendly MPs staying silent only shrinks.
This may not have been Liz Truss’ last PMQs but U-turns and economic blunder like the country has seen in the past month make it all the more probable her final appearance is getting nearer.
Read today's top stories here.
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