Back to school for Team Truss as Tory MPs seek more comprehensive leadership

The prime minister’s education claim was barely true, as Kate Devlin explains

Hard to swallow: Liz Truss during her speech in Birmingham on Wednesday (PA)

At the Conservative conference in Birmingham, unity was in short supply but Tory MPs representing different wings of the party were agreed on one point – despair at the unforced errors of the Truss government.

Yes, the new prime minister was dealt a difficult hand when the Queen died days after she entered Downing Street. But many MPs moan that the rot began almost at the moment Ms Truss became Tory leader.

Some who had resigned themselves to losing their ministerial jobs when she took over are furious at the manner in which they were sacked. It convinced some who supported Rishi Sunak for leader that, essentially, their careers as anything other than backbench MPs are now over.