Tory conference: Liz Truss - speech will say disruption will be worth it for growth

Controversial: Politics & Govt Politics & Govt: In The News
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The Conservatives are almost certainly heading for defeat at the next general election, pollsters told a packed meeting at the party’s conference.

The panel savaged Liz Truss’s first weeks in power and suggested Labour’s double digit poll lead might be almost impossible to overturn by 2024. Veteran US pollster Frank Luntz offered a brutal message to the party faithful in Birmingham. He said the party’s MPs had to start communicating with voters in a language they understood, and talking about things which mattered to them. Frank Luntz is a friend of ex PM Boris Johnson and a longstanding Tory observer

In a scathing assessment of Liz Truss’s first weeks in power, Rachel Wolf, who co-wrote the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto, said the new prime minister had no mandate from voters or her own MPs for the “ambitious” Thatcherite agenda she was pursuing. She accused Ms Truss of “appearing not to care” about the impact her policies will have on voters worried about the cost of living, “People are feeling poorer,” she added, and they don’t think the solutions Liz Truss has come up with “make any sense”.

Ms Wolf, co-founder of polling company Public First, and a former adviser to Michael Gove, picked apart Ms Truss’s claim to be a strong leader in the mould of Margaret Thatcher, and not afraid of unpopular policies. The crucial difference between the two, she argued, was that Lady Thatcher had an electoral and Parliamentary mandate for her policies and was capable of articulating them in way that resonated with ordinary voters. “Thatcher was always a strong leader,” she told the meeting, “but she was of the people, she spoke in their language”.

James Johnson, a founder of pollsters JL Partners, who conducted private polling and opinion research for Theresa May when she was prime minister, said the party could not turn its fortunes around by selecting another new leader.

Boris Johnson had become unelectable after Partygate, but it had only damaged his own reputation not the Tory brand as a whole, he told the meeting. “Now unfortunately, I think that has changed and this is damage to Liz Truss’s brand but also to the Conservative brand”

Well, that panel is not composed of LT’s best friends so it might be biased … :wink:

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Even my cat had worked out that they’ve had it in terms of getting re-elected. It’s all a bit like the final few scenes of Apocalypse Now, and we’re waiting someone to deal the final swing of the machete. Nearly everyone wants it.

The horror…

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It’s not the what, nor even the who, it’s the when and the where … the eve of of the Tory party conference. The writing is on the walls of the International Convention Centre, Birmingham.

Context is everything.

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The first party conference for a new leader is meant to be a celebratory affair, even in difficult times for the country - a victory lap for the winner.

Monday is the chancellor’s big day and Tuesday and Wednesday will be dominated by the prime minister.

We can expect bucket-loads of explanation and bucket-loads of attempted reassurance from Kwasi Kwarteng and Ms Truss, but a determination, too, for now at least, to stick to their plans.

So … like recent interviews … but far, far worse … :roll_eyes:

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She’s doing really badly, it seems nobody really likes her - as a ‘leader’ anyway. Not an envious position because the public did not vote her in and she just doesn’t have the pizazz (or policies) needed to win everyone over…

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You have an intellectual moggy? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I’d never write any party off, the appalling Scotty from Marketing won the unwinnable election in 2019 as did the world’s greatest treasurer more than a couple of decades before him.

The opposition can be too clever by half sometimes.

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Only time will tell … you know they say there’s only a very fine line between crazy and genius… not that I’m a Tory ( shudder the thought) but every govt policy takes time to fulfill its intention. I think boris is a clown but he stepped up when it was necessary though he and his Co conspirators only seemed to be fully behind everything. He surprised me on some issues but his band of grabbing mates sank him … oh well let’s wait for the fallout … one should never be happy about having a truss after all lol

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There are always the ghosts of Christmas past who might roll out of their coffins to damage Labour’s chances, which curiously still remains precarious IMHO. Corbyn, Abbott, McDonald etc are still lurking away in the shadows.

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I’ve yet to hear LT talk in any way other than spewing out a script. Every single interview, she just repeats her scripted responses robotically. For all his bluff and bluster, at least BJ sounded like a human being, at least he had the grace to actually get flustered when he was cornered, unlike the automaton that is Ms Truss.

No wonder people feel they can’t trust a word she says, and simply do not understand what on earth she’s trying to do.

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I do agree with that view of Truss but I’d also suggest that her communication style is not actually her biggest problem or the worst factor going against her. Pushing a policy that forced the BoE to spaff £65bn of our money into the money markets (within a week of being PM) to bolster government bonds is quite a bit worse than a stilted style of speaking.

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Quite … :+1:

Previously, I have been criticised for calling LT “RoboTruss” (amongst other things) but the description fits her “style” - only the most fervent of Truss “believers” now refuse to acknowledge that Trickle-Down Truss is programmed to operate on “auto” … :robot:

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She is an absolute disaster, I hope she calls an election so the country can be rid of her. That battery in her back needs to be removed.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is addressing delegates at the Conservative Party conference

Kwarteng says the government’s growth plan will deal with the challenges of today to get Britain moving. He says the growth plan will ensure a focus on economic growth. He adds a new approach focused on raising economic growth was needed because that is the only way to deliver higher wages, jobs and revenue to fund pubic services and long-term fiscal sustainability.

Everyone benefits from economic growth, he says.

The government is wholly committed to economic growth, Kwarteng says, and that is why it is offering a new economic deal for Britain. He adds this will be “backed by an iron-clad commitment to fiscal discipline, more businesses, more jobs, higher pay, and more money for public services”. He says we can’t have good schools, a strong NHS and fund the Armed Forces without a strong economy.

The government is aiming for 2.5% annual growth, he says. “We’ve done it before and we can do it again,” he says.

“This government will always be on the side of those who need help the most,” he says, before repeating a phrase he’s said before: help is on the way to businesses. Kwasi Kwarteng is directly taking on criticism that his tax cuts will benefit higher earners more. He says, “everybody benefits. I mean everybody”, arguing that if tax cuts lead to growing the economy that would help boost people’s wages, businesses and local areas, and raise more revenue long-term to fund public services.

The biggest clap he’s received so far is for saying: “People should keep more of what they earn.”

He says the UK now has the second lowest debt to GDP ratio in the G7 because of successive Conservative governments. He says the government has taken the appropriate action to protect people from rising energy costs and the need to grow the economy. “We will have a strong fiscal anchor with debt falling as a percentage of proportion of GDP over the medium term. That is the Conservative way,” he says.

To grow the economy, we need to do things differently, Kwarteng tells the Tory party conference. “Because we are Conservatives, we are committed to being serious custodians of the public purse,” he goes on. “Rather than bashing business, we are backing it,” he says. That is why the tax system needs to be made simpler, more competitive and pro-growth, he adds.

He says this is why the government plans to reverse the rise in corporation tax, the reforms to IR35 and maintain the £1m investment allowance.

Well, he’s preaching to the (mostly) converted, who’ll believe his propaganda … :roll_eyes:

He closes the speech with: “We as Conservatives believe in Britain. We love this country. Our patriotism goes to the core of what it is to be a Conservative. Yes we have challenges to face, but our plan will take this country forward, we will get Britain moving, we will grow our economy,” he says. “With grit, drive and with determination, we can meet the challenges of this new era,” he adds.

The believers may believe in miracles but I don’t … :-1:

While most of the Conservatives in the front rows got to their feet to applaud Kwarteng’s speech, the standing ovation was not universal at the back of the auditorium, as this photo from our reporter Paul Seddon shows.

image

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Kwasi Kwarteng will reveal his plan to cut Britain’s debt sooner than he first announced, according to reports on Monday evening.

The chancellor will accelerate the publication of his medium-term fiscal plan to later this month and not on November 23, in a second U-turn on his radical ‘mini-budget’ that was unveiled just 10 days ago.

The FT said Kwarteng’s statement would set out a five-year plan to put debt on a downward path, including a tight squeeze on public spending.

The move is designed to reassure markets by spelling out how billions of pounds in tax cuts will be paid for, which was thought to be a driving force behind the run on the pound and bond markets.

Just yesterday morning, in a BBC interview, Kwasi Kwarteng said the government was preparing a medium-term “fiscal plan” that will be delivered in the coming weeks: “We have to wait 51 days because that is when the OBR will be able to come up with their forecasts. I’m absolutely determined that we get everything aligned and that we do this in a usual way,” he said.

So that’s a double lie - the OBR have prepared forecasts but LT/KK have refused the offer and now we’ll have to wait less than 27 days.

Is the move designed to take the heat off LT when she gives her speech at conference on Wednesday … :question:

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Well the last few days certainly haven’t shown any genius. Every government policy gets what it deserves.

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Who the…?

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Office for Budget Responsibility.

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People have short memories .
There’s a vague chance the Tory’s might retain power.
It all depends how this winter pans out. Cold no heat hmmm

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I doubt that this will be the last time Truss and her merry bunch of comedians make a catastrophic error.

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