Can Jeremy Hunt save Liz Truss’s premiership?

Will the former health secretary’s steadying hand be enough to prevent yet another prime ministerial exit, asks Kate Devlin

Jeremy Hunt is interviewed by Robert Peston on Saturday, his first full day as chancellor (Reuters)

Jeremy Hunt once observed that David Cameron and George Osborne had a certain “genius” that allowed them to sell austerity cuts to the British public “without poll tax [-style] riots”.

This weekend it was Mr Hunt’s turn to try the hard sell. In a series of extraordinary interviews on his first full day as chancellor, he tried to level with the British public.

Ahead lie spending cuts, “difficult decisions” and tough economic choices, he cautioned. Just weeks after the prime minister promised tax cuts to win the keys to No 10, he said “some” taxes would rise.