It’s always curious when someone starts to get talked about a lot in the news.
It used to be said of the old dictator of what we now call ex-Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, that his will opened with the words “if I should die”. Well, he did eventually die. And while he was dying, no other subject mattered in the Yugoslav media. A citizen of Tito’s fine republic is alleged to have complained, “I open the paper – it’s him. I tune in the radio – it’s him. I turn on the TV – it’s him. I’m afraid to open a can of dog food.”
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| Truss: the conqueror? |
Truss looking for support, perhaps?
To be fair, there’s enough to talk about in things that actual fall within the remit of her present job. As Foreign Secretary, she’s responsible for Britain’s stance over the Ukraine war (sorry, Vladimir, special operation). Or at least responsible for it to the extent that her boss, Boris Johnson, lets her get a word in edgeways. He’s now decided that with a tanking economy after a bungled pandemic, he needs to build a new profile as a world statesman, and leave the mess of domestic politics to someone else.
Truss also handles the Brexit brief, which means the tricky negotiations around the Northern Ireland Protocol. It’s no wonder Johnson wants to keep well away from this one, since he described it as “A good arrangement… with the minimum possible bureaucratic consequences”, back in October 2019 when he freely, even enthusiastically, signed it.
For anyone who’s not too sure what the Protocol is about, it’s allows Northern Ireland to remain inside the EU Single Market, to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, which remains an EU member. But that means that there has to be a border, with checks on good, between Northern Ireland and Britain
The Prime Minister’s grasp of this awkward reality is made clear by his statement in December 2019. He said, “There will be no checks on goods going from GB to NI, or NI to GB”.
Presumably he’s read what he signed since, as he now wants out of the Protocol just as fast as it can be arranged. Truss has been charged with renegotiating it or, if that fails, simply opting out of it unilaterally. That’s something entirely in Johnson’s character, since he likes to act as though law doesn’t apply to him. However, he’d rather someone else took the blame.
Which is also entirely in his character.
Dealing with Russian warmongering or turning Britain into a nation that breaks international law – rather like Russia – was always going to attract press attention. But now she’s taken to talking about key matters outside her own brief.
As British inflation hit a 40-year high, she told Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News:
We are in a very, very difficult economic situation. We're facing some very very serious global headwinds. Inflation is extremely high. What we're doing is working to increase growth in our economy, attract investment to the United Kingdom, to face down these global headwinds.
Now that sounds like she’s muscling her way into the economic arena, more properly the domain of her colleague Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the quaint title Britain still uses for its Finance Minister).
A few months ago, when it looked like Boris Johnson might be forced out of office quite soon, the favourites to take over from him were these two big-hitters, Foreign Secretary Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak. But then Truss mysteriously faded, leaving Sunak as the clear front-runner.
As he remained until some nasty stories about his and his and his wife’s tax arrangements started to circulate. Naturally, I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that anyone close to the Prime Minister was responsible for the leaks, but they certainly removed Sunak, at speed, from the ranks of potential challengers to him. Here one day, gone the next, that was Sunak.
Now Truss is back in the news. Practically every day, as far as I can see. And even sounding off about matters that are properly Sunak’s area of expertise.
Like I said, I don’t think that kind of thing happens by accident.
Sadly, for Truss at least, she’s probably on a hiding to nothing. She can only seriously contemplate taking over from Johnson if he shows any sign of stepping down. And for the moment, he doesn’t.
Nor is he likely to be under any pressure to anytime soon. Britain is blessed – if that’s the word – with a seriously large number of electors who like to moan endlessly about dishonesty in politicians, if they’re Labour politicians. If they’re Conservatives, they’re much more indulgent.
Most people know that Johnson’s as bent as he’s incompetent (and, boy, he’s incompetent). But they don’t seem to care. They’re happy to leave a known inept crook in charge.
That’s bad news for Liz Truss. Unless she knows of an imminent scandal that’ll scupper Johnson, she probably needs to bide her time before bidding for the top job. Which might make all that talk about her right now just a little premature.
Careful, Liz. It isn’t smart to peak too soon. Especially up against someone like Johnson, who may be no good at governing, but is a past master at defending what he sees as his due.
Just look at what happened to Sunak.
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