Under Liz Truss’s cabinet of chums, there will be trouble ahead

Editorial: By the looks of her cabinet picks, the new prime minister values loyalty over unity, isn’t much impressed by talent and experience, and will be even more intolerant of dissent than her predecessor

Everyone in the Conservative Party, from Boris Johnson to the grassroots enthusiast stuffing letterboxes, agrees that the party now needs to unite behind its new leader and – dread phrase – “deliver, deliver and deliver”.

So does Liz Truss. Yet by the looks of her cabinet picks, Ms Truss values loyalty above unity, isn’t that much impressed by talent and experience, and will be even more intolerant of dissent than her predecessor. If she hopes that the bitter infighting that led to the fall of Mr Johnson (and disfigured the leadership contest) can be put firmly behind her, she is going the wrong way about it. There are few more dangerous and vengeful political animals in the jungle than the cabinet minister who believes they have been deprived of power prematurely and unfairly.

The most graphic illustration of this can be found in the faces that will not figure in the new cabinet. Rishi Sunak, most obviously. Had things gone a little more gently in the hustings and TV debates, Mr Sunak might have found himself appointed foreign secretary as a consolation prize, with his counsel still at the disposal of the government. But what has been revealed over these past weeks is a deep rift over economic policy and the control of inflation. Even if Mr Sunak had chosen to play ball, he would probably have resigned over policy differences in a matter of months. Ominously for Ms Truss, he is now saying that he is keen to stay on into the next parliament. He is not finished yet.