Liz Truss is still Labour’s greatest asset. She must be protected at all costs

Starmer’s job is to ensure she stays on as leader until it’s too late for them to replace her

The pressure was on for Liz Truss today. She knew it, which is why she used that carefully curated line of Peter Mandelson’s – “I’m a fighter, not a quitter”. Once she cosplayed Maggie: now she’s mimicking Mandy. Dear, oh dear.

As we’ve noted before, every time Truss survives some set piece event like PMQs, it just postpones her inevitable demise. But for how long?

Starmer’s job is to ensure she stays on as leader until it’s too late for them to replace her, and allow her to attempt to lead her party into the next general election and – prospectively – ask for another five years in power. She’s still a terrible liability for the Tory party, and therefore an asset for the opposition.

Keir Starmer, therefore, can’t lose so long as she is there. She will continue to be in office but not in power, her party will stay divided, there’ll be endless plotting and speculation about her future, and she will continue to drag her party down with her.

Starmer used mockery to good effect, and was shrewd enough not to call for her resignation - it’s not going to happen soon anyway. She did OK, and that should suit Starmer fine. The public aren’t all that concerned about PMQs, and they still find her untrustworthy and incompetent. After all, when he was Tory leader William Hague beat Tony Blair week in, week out, and still ended up crushed by New Labour at the following election.

Anything to assist the prime minister in her struggle for survival and the destruction of the Tories under her nominal command is in the longer term national interest. The public despise her, and it needs to be kept that way. Keeping Truss in place is much better than having the Tories select someone more plausible to replace her – Mordaunt, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch, maybe.

True, Labour would miss out on the possibility that the Conservatives could end up with an even weaker, more risible figure at the top - Suella Braverman, who is a sort of pound shop version of Boris Johnson. She makes Truss look like Churchill. But surely the Tories can’t be that nuts?

So Liz does need to be protected, subtly, by the leader of the Opposition. Like a boxer or footballer involved in a gambling scam, Starmer has to find a way to throw the match. #Starmerout will trend for a few hours, but that’s fine. If Tory MPs feel good and give her more time just because she’s had a good day in the chamber for a change, it just means they will remain out of touch with the public who can’t stand the sight of her.

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With a selfless generosity rarely associated with the Tories, they have now gifted the opposition with three deeply unpopular, hapless leaders in succession. Like Truss, Johnson and Theresa May started out alright, nd seemed formidable enough, but eventually became figures of scorn and popular amusement (in a bad way as far as they’re concerned).

That may suggest that the Tory project, such as it is, has been flawed for some time. Truss’ journey from emerging Iron Lady to Ms Bean has been a remarkably quick one, and it is doing her party no good. If she carries on, she will lead them to oblivion at the next election, and dump them out of office for decades.

Good. It might even, eventually, reverse Brexit. That is why Labour has got Truss just where they want her, and why they need to do whatever it takes to make sure she’s not replaced by someone who knows that they’re doing.