Review: ‘Truss at 10’ by Anthony Seldon – A Failed Leadership Legacy

Liz Truss had a question for Anthony Seldon when he bumped into her at last year’s Spectator summer party. “Why are you writing a book about me?” she asked. Many of us likely share her curiosity. For almost 200 years, the distinction of being the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister belonged to George Canning, whose 119-day tenure ended with his death. The only casualty of Truss’s 49 days in office, starting on September 6, 2022, was the Tories’ reputation for economic competence, though it had been waning for some time.

The turbulent Conservative leadership changes in the summer of 2022 set new records for ministerial instability—an education secretary lasting 36 hours and Grant Shapps serving as home secretary for six days. Though Truss may have lasted only slightly longer than the Daily Star’s infamous wilting lettuce, she qualifies for a lifetime of close protection and annual Cenotaph gatherings like other recent prime ministers. Consequently, she gets an Anthony Seldon book about her tenure.

One might expect a brief one. Seldon uses ten commandments, created in 2021 to analyze the challenges of leadership, to judge her premiership. These include headings like Command the Big Events, Maintain a Reputation for Economic Competence, and Avoid U-turns. Truss struggles with all of them, which gives the book its subtitle, How Not to Be Prime Minister.

The book is a brisk and readable account, though the first 50 pages covering the leadership contest that brought Truss to No. 10 are tough going. The real ire isn’t directed at the candidates but at the courtiers—a cavalcade of oddballs like Gavin Williamson, Mark Francois, Dominic Raab, Nadine Dorries, Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and David Frost. Their arrogance and self-importance make it a cast too gruesome to entertain.

Unlike Truss, Littlewood and the Daily Mail , Kwarteng emerges from these pages with dignity

Truss won mainly because her tiny electorate (97% white, 50% over 60, mostly residing in southern England) still idolized Boris Johnson, and she had refrained from joining those who ousted him. She had a plan: with inflation at a 40-year high and borrowing costs rising, she proposed £45bn in unfunded tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy. What was folly to many, including her main leadership rival Rishi Sunak, was dismissed by her as the output of the “anti-growth alliance” or “abacus economics.”

Seldon explains where her misguided ideas originated, criticizing the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for deviating from its scholarly roots to appeal to right-wing politicians favoring Brexit and opposing climate change action and the nanny state. Seldon’s father co-founded the IEA in 1955, and while it is registered as an educational charity meant to engage equally with all political parties, it frequently engages with Tory donors and the tobacco industry and never with Labour.

The head of the IEA in 2022 was Mark Littlewood, a friend of Truss since their Liberal Democrat days in college. He and his associates inspired the disastrous mini-budget delivered by Truss’s closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng. Unlike Truss and Littlewood, Kwarteng comes out with some dignity. Although deferential and making a catastrophic error on BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show by saying there was “more to come” after the tax cuts sparked financial meltdown, Kwarteng had actually cleared his comment with Truss, who insisted on no balancing spending cuts.

It was Kwarteng who quietly resigned after being thrown under the bus by Truss in a bid to save herself. He also sacked Tom Scholar, the well-regarded Treasury permanent secretary, on her orders. Truss held a grudge against Scholar from her time at the Treasury under former Chancellor Philip Hammond. Seldon notes that many in Whitehall considered Scholar indispensable, a fact Truss learned the hard way.

One of the more esoteric elements of the mini-budget crisis involved liability-driven investments (LDIs), a mechanism used by pension funds. As panic spread about pensions, Truss admitted she had never heard of LDIs, lamenting the lack of warning from Treasury officials. The one person who could have provided insight—Tom Scholar—was gone.

Seldon’s conclusion isn’t entirely damning. He rates her better than Boris Johnson, though that sets a low bar. Truss is credited with political savvy, though “her savviness was micro and self-centered when it needed to be macro and inclusive.”

Readers might recall Keir Starmer’s quip about this book before its publication. “A book is being written about the prime minister’s time in office,” he said during PMQs. “Apparently, it is going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”

Truss didn’t make it to Christmas, leaving before the first John Lewis ad. Her parliamentary career ended in July, concluding a tumultuous chapter in British politics.

• Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister by Anthony Seldon, with Jonathan Meakin, is published by Atlantic (£22).

Source: The Guardian