
The Ugly Face of Immigration
The real question we should be asking in terms of illegal immigration is (Suella Braverman aside) whether incompetence is genuinely sufficient to explain Tory feebleness in the face of this problem?

The real question we should be asking in terms of illegal immigration is (Suella Braverman aside) whether incompetence is genuinely sufficient to explain Tory feebleness in the face of this problem?

While ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak and former PM Boris Johnson thus far have not announced a run, they are already leading the pack, having received the backing of quite a number of Tory MPs.

Names of candidates to replace Truss are already floating about. These include former rival Rishi Sunak, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, and even former PM Boris Johnson.

Facing inevitable electoral oblivion, in an odd way, affords the political Right a rare opportunity. With absolutely no chance of keeping Labour out of Number 10 (nor any possibility that they could prove worse), the nation finally has the opportunity to bury the Tories once and for all, and unite behind a genuine conservative coalition.

In response to questions, an automaton-like Truss kept on reiterating her desire for high growth. Her party, let alone the nation, is unlikely to take heart from its Prime Minister’s latest performance.

Truss seems happy to keep disappointing the right flank of her party. Truss’s approach to immigration may also tank her popularity with voters who expected a government willing to sacrifice the absolute value of GDP for a stronger, more socially cohesive nation.

Truss faces multiple political challenges from the outset, not least of which is to unite a Conservative party still scarred by the toppling of its most successful leader in decades, not to mention the less-than-amicable leadership contest which followed.

The Tory leadership race is a fight between Sunak’s ‘Thatcherite’ concern to prioritise taming inflation and Truss’s ‘Reaganite’ focus on boosting economic growth, even at the expense of deficit-financed tax cuts.

Truss was ridiculed for wearing furs in Moscow during a thaw. It’s an apt metaphor for her—no matter the weather, she’ll wear furs to Moscow because Thatcher did, and no matter the economic forecast, she’ll cut taxes because Thatcher did.

Liz Truss should be able to build up enough support from MPs to carry her, beyond Mordaunt, into second place.