[Spoonman]

There’s no flies on Liz

Those responsible for driving the biggest wedge between NI & GB over the last 5+ years have been the DUP and the Conservative & Unionist party. All Sinn Fein have largely done is sit back and wolf down copious amounts of popcorn while letting the Tories & DUP do most of their work for them.

If this is Truss just giving a baseless soundbite then it is idiotic just on its own. OTOH if she actually believes this then she's probably the most dangerous thing walking on two legs on these islands.

[satnav]

According to the Mail, Truss is planning to revive a plan for petrol vouchers for pensioners that was allegedly blocked by that nasty Rishi Sunak. They don't give many details about the policy but it does look like it was put forward by BP who were presumably hoping it would be viewed as an alternative to a windfall tax.

Given that Truss claims not to believe in handouts why is she suddenly thinking about backing a scheme that looks very much like a handout. If the vouchers are going to be given to all pensioners regardless of income it is not really targeted support, if however the scheme is means tested it would be fairly expensive to administer. It is also not clear if the scheme would be exclusive to BP because certainly around here I can only think of one BP garage and that is over 10 miles away so somebody would have to take a 20 mile round trip in order to save on petrol.

[RedSparrows]

It's not a handout when it's a corporate fishing hook.

[Crabcakes]

BP tend to be bloody expensive anyway, but this smacks of the sort of scheme that will cost shit-all because of low uptake but can be trumpeted as ‘helping’.

Still, that demographic of simultaneously breadline over 65s who still regularly commute and use BP rather than a cheaper supermarket garage will be delighted. All 3 of them.

[Youngian]

Liz will have Starmer on the ropes, predicts Dan Hodges and his team of made up sources. Truss and her cabinet of freaks might look like 19th century Transylvania but not Britain.

While publicly still fighting for every Tory member’s vote, Truss’s team are already planning how they might destroy Sir Keir Starmer’s prime ministerial ambitions as ruthlessly as they dispatched Sunak’s.
Crucially, they feel they could exploit some of the same blokeish swagger and over-confidence.
‘Starmer thinks he’ll be able to brush her aside,’ one adviser told me, ‘but he’s in for a shock. The moment he starts talking down to her, she’s going to hit him, and hit him hard.’
Starmer’s team are well aware of the dangers and privately concede concerns about them.

Prime Minister Truss will create an entirely new set of challenges.

‘Our plan for Boris worked pretty well,’ one Starmer ally told me. ‘But Truss poses a different proposition. The fact she’s a woman means Keir’s facing a very different opponent – especially at Prime Minister’s Questions. It will be much harder to get the tone right.’
Starmer’s problem extends beyond the bear pit of the Commons. That’s because Truss won’t merely be ‘the token woman’, but primus inter pares in the most diverse Cabinet in British political history.
Kwasi Kwarteng, James Cleverly, Therese Coffey, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Penny Mordaunt have all been tipped for senior roles in a Truss administration. As a result, Labour’s claim to be the party that ‘looks like Britain’ will ring even more hollow. https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/comm ... no10-hopes

[Abernathy]

Well, there’s a simulacrum of truth in that. Neil Kinnock notably experienced similar difficulties confronting Margaret Thatcher. But as Hodges acknowledges, Starmer’s team are already on the case. Irrespective of Truss’s distaff status, I’m confident that Starmer will dismantle Truss effortlessly at every single encounter. I mean, let’s face it, it’s like putting Jade Goody up against Brian Cox.

And “the most ethnically diverse cabinet in British political history” is essentially identical to Johnson’s cabinet.

[Andy McDandy]

Hit him hard?

She's about as hard as the Krankies.

[satnav]

All the talk of her hitting him hard makes it sound like Truss is the leader of the opposition rather than the Prime Minister. Her job over the next 2 years will be to tackle the current problems and Starmer's job is to scrutinize and offer alternatives.

[Watchman]

“blokeish swagger and over-confidence.”

I think they are mixing him up with Johnson

[Youngian]

Yeh Keir should dump his blokey mansplaining persona and challenge with Mrs Truss in a professional, forensic manner.

[Abernathy]

Well, there’s a simulacrum of truth in that. Neil Kinnock notably experienced similar difficulties confronting Margaret Thatcher. But as Hodges acknowledges, Starmer’s team are already on the case. Irrespective of Truss’s distaff status, I’m confident that Starmer will dismantle Truss effortlessly at every single encounter. I mean, let’s face it, it’s like putting Jade Goody up against Professor Brian Cox.

And “the most ethnically diverse cabinet in British political history” is essentially identical to Johnson’s cabinet.

[Crabcakes]

I can’t see Starmer having much trouble on the basis Truss is charmless, stupid, and has no trouble shitting her own bed on a regular basis. Her economic policies are gibberish, senior Tories are terrified that she’s going to finish the job Johnson started, and Labour’s poll lead and Starmer’s “who would be best PM” lead are increasing. And she’s notoriously stubborn and arrogant, so this makes it more likely she’ll stick to her shitty guns rather than u-turn.

The only downside is, we have to live through the best part of 2 years of this awfulness.

[Andy McDandy]

She reminds me of Lisa Kudrow's character in Death to 2020. In her own reality, oblivious to anything else.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Truss is going to have to backtrack on "no handouts". Cameron worked out that there's not much political cost in U-turning, and I'm sure Truss will think the same. So will the people cheering her on as the New Iron Lady, come to think of it.

I think Starmer might be vulnerable on the cost and giving more to rich households than Truss will. There's definitely a pathway through for her in chopping a bit off the Starmer bill and redirecting to small business.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Welcome to test match cricket, Liz. I think Opinium is the one that focuses on switchers and treats don't knows as though they're likely to go back (as very many normally do, but this time?).

That's a big lead.

[mattomac]

I actually think what you see is what you get from Truss, she is talking about each department having more freedom and though it sounded great at first when a certain Jeremy Corbyn suggested it, it ended up in a mess of policies.

[satnav]

Apparently Liz Truss is planning to hold budget without official forecast if she wins leadership race - despite it being available from Office for Budget Responsibility. It looks like we back to ignoring the experts once again. What could possibly go wrong.

[mattomac]

Starmer was openly mocking it this morning.

There is no point in Labour making spending plans when this lot we living in cloud cuckoo land.

I’ll be intrigued to see what bounce she gets, I bet it will be under anything expected.

[kreuzberger]

...what bounce...

That will depend upon what the BBC politics team is cooking up.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Apparently Liz Truss is planning to hold budget without official forecast if she wins leadership race - despite it being available from Office for Budget Responsibility. It looks like we back to ignoring the experts once again. What could possibly go wrong.

This may not be as scary as it sounds. I think she's going to introduce the package quickly once elected, isn't she? That would mean the OBR could take it into account in the autumn report.