If Liz Truss had any honour, she would follow Kwasi Kwarteng’s lead and quit

The former prime minister and record holder for shortest-serving premier in British history is back – by (no) popular demand, writes Andrew Grice

Ten years on from ‘pork markets’, former prime minster Liz Truss seems to have grown no more self-aware, launching ‘PopCon’ (PA)

Only Kwasi Kwarteng can know if he timed news of his exit from politics to coincide with Liz Truss’s attempt to make a comeback by launching yet another Conservative faction.

Either way, there can be little doubt that many people will wish Truss had taken the course chosen by her former chancellor. Between them, in the space of a few reckless weeks running the country, their ill-judged mini-Budget spooked the financial markets and triggered an economic catastrophe with a devastating impact on the lives of millions of families. It still hovers like a black cloud over the Tories’ general election prospects.

In announcing that he will stand down at the election after 14 years as MP for Spelthorne, Kwarteng has perhaps signalled at least some degree of responsibility, some humility even.

Responsibility and humility are the last words that come to mind when we consider the shameless Truss. Her lack of self-awareness is illustrated in the name of the group she launched today, Popular Conservatism.

The irony is that opinion polls tell us that Truss is among the least popular Tories of all time; her net favourability rating of minus 54 per cent is well below a discredited Boris Johnson, a struggling Rishi Sunak, and Suella Braverman, who currently trails Kemi Badenoch in the future leadership stakes on the party’s right flank.

Even among 2019 Tory voters, Truss’s rating is minus 53 per cent. “It is ironic that Popular Conservatism couldn’t find a more unpopular spokesperson if they actively tried,” said Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollsters Savanta. So, just as she contaminated the Tory brand, might Truss have the same effect on her latest product, deterring even voters sympathetic to its ideas?

Like Kwarteng, Truss should take the hint. But she won’t. Even if, unlike Johnson, she has given up hope of leading her party again, she clearly wants to influence its direction of travel and be a king/queenmaker if Sunak loses the election and inevitably departs. Perhaps she fancies a shadow cabinet comeback. If David Cameron can return from the political graveyard, why not her? But there’s a big difference: he was prime minister for six years, she lasted 49 days, the shortest-serving premier in British history.

Truss will still be on the scene, even if not on the front bench. She has a comfortable 26,195 majority in her South West Norfolk constituency, though as The Independent revealed, there are some rumblings against her among Tory dissidents.

Kwarteng, an author and big thinker in Tory land and rising star who rose too far before crashing and burning, was absent from the launch of Popular Conservatism, even though he shares many of its goals. His once close friendship and political partnership with Truss ended when he read on Twitter/X she was about to sack him after 38 days at the Treasury, as he headed to Downing Street after flying back early from Washington.

He warned her that dismissing him would not save her. “They’re going to come after you now,” he told her. He was proved right six days later when she was forced to announce her own resignation. When he said publicly he felt “let down” by her, it was an understatement.

The way the two former allies have conducted themselves since the meltdown of 2022 is instructive. An unrepentant Truss has ludicrously blamed her downfall on a left-wing economic establishment, hid behind the old chestnut of poor communications but been reluctant to say sorry for the mortgage misery she inflicted.

Kwarteng has shown more contrition. Although wary of admitting his strategy was wrong, he eventually said: “I’m sorry for the turbulence that was caused ... I’m sorry for the damage and the loss, and it was a scary time, and I’m sorry for that.”

Unlike Truss, Kwarteng has managed to find some kind words about Sunak, describing him as a “cool customer,” while saying Truss was “not wired” to be prime minister.

Kwarteng has wisely taken the advice of John Major, the former prime minister, who said after losing the 1997 election: “When the curtain falls, it’s time to leave the stage.” As Truss seeks another act, Kwarteng is the 58th Tory MP to announce they will stand down later this year.

More will follow; the Westminster rumour mill suggests that one or two cabinet ministers might even join the exodus. Hardly a vote of confidence in Sunak’s prospects.