Liz Truss should use the party conference to distract from a policy retreat

Editorial: The prime minister would be wise to prepare behind the scenes to adjust her cruel, unfair and unwise policies

Truss would be well advised to prepare to quietly modify her most unpopular measures before they make contact with parliamentary reality (Getty)

If the prime minister has any instinct for survival at all – something of which we cannot yet be sure – she will use the drama of her party conference in Birmingham over the next few days as cover to allow her to prepare a stealthy retreat in Westminster.

She and her shrinking band of loyal ministers can use the annual gathering of Conservative representatives to try to convey a message of defiance, confidence and bravery. No doubt the phrase “You turn if you want to; the lady’s not for turning” will be heard from the platform, possibly even in Liz Truss’s own speech on Wednesday. But the important business will be to prepare behind the scenes for a number of pragmatic adjustments to the new government’s policies in the coming weeks.

When MPs reassemble in the House of Commons on 11 October, Ms Truss is going to have to face the reality that getting her policies through parliament will not be straightforward. Her notional working majority of 71 is in effect a hung parliament, in which 138 MPs (at the last count) are members of the Rishi Sunak Party.