Tories must find a leader to do what Liz Truss could not in these tough times – lead

AFTER the historic fiasco of Liz Truss’s fleeting but disastrous ­premiership, Britain is in dire need of genuine leadership and stability.

That holds true for our jittery economy but even more so for a public staring into the abyss of a winter of soaring prices and bills, and perhaps even blackouts.

Millions are nervous, to say the least. Many are terrified.

With Truss on her way out of No10, it is vital we now see the rapid election of a new Prime Minister capable of steering Britain as calmly as anyone can through mountainous economic seas.

For the sake of our nation, and The Sun’s readers, Tory MPs and members must pick the best ­candidate and unite behind them, whoever he or she is.

Not one second longer can be wasted on the deranged civil wars which seem to have become the party’s abiding interest. 

That obnoxious self-indulgence, all played out in public and whipped into a frenzy on social media, is leading them to potential extinction, as their truly catastrophic polling now indicates.

What’s more, achieving some ­political stability is now the best argument against the predictably deafening clamour for a General Election from Labour, the Lib Dems, SNP and others.

Paralysed

Funny what huge fans of democracy the Remainer parties are when they are convinced they will win. When they lost the referendum in 2016 they tried to annul it.

But, make no mistake, an election would do nothing whatsoever to calm and reassure Britain. 

Quite the reverse.

Not just because a Parliament which wasted an interminable summer watching the Tory leadership contest would be paralysed again for months of campaigning.

But because it is ludicrous to imagine Labour would handle our worsening economy any better than a united Tory Party. They don’t even have a plan to do so.

Keir Starmer would face exactly the same problems. And big-spending Labour is innately unqualified to extricate Britain from a financial mire.

Imagine the chaos with Starmer ideologically unable to cut public spending, unwilling to court unpopularity by raising tax on ordinary workers and left desperately trying to raise a few quid solely by punishing wealth. 

That’s before Labour even began dismantling Brexit, as it would. Just listen to their emboldened Remainer allies on TV and radio, already absurdly pronouncing Brexit “has failed” less than two years after we finally left the EU and as if neither Covid nor the war in Ukraine had ever happened.

So Tory MPs must instead somehow put the last six calamitous weeks behind them and chalk up as an aberration the decision they and their party members took to install Truss.

It has proven a historic mistake.

Her rival Rishi Sunak was the experienced ex-Chancellor who supported Britain through Covid — the “furlough guy” who saved the jobs of thousands of Sun readers.

He understood the markets, correctly forecast that Ms Truss’s plans would cause mortgage ­mayhem, was a polished media performer and a Brexiteer. He was — and is — a man who can see his country’s true potential and has the skills and intellect to deliver. 

Ms Truss was a Remainer, a triumph of lifelong sharp-elbowed ambition. Tory members gambled on her and lost. 

She leaves office our shortest-lived PM, her career suddenly ended in the most chaotic fashion.

We do have sympathy for her. She became PM with the global economy sharply deteriorating, largely owing to Putin’s war. 

At home, the sluggishness of the Bank of England meant inflation was already rampant.

Truss was not wrong when it came to targeting the twin problems of low growth and a 70-year high in our overall tax burden. We have identified them often enough. We too believed tax cuts could ultimately jump-start the economy. We didn’t expect her to suddenly unleash a raft of them all at once, with the markets already in ­turmoil and without consulting a living soul who could add up the costings, if there were any.

Ms Truss’s subsequent handling of almost everything, as the roof fell in during the days and weeks after that disastrous mini-Budget, amply proved how unsuited she was to the top job.

Capping it all was Wednesday’s shocking and undignified shambles — starting with the sacking of the Home Secretary and ending in the hostile jostling of Tory MPs in the lobby during the fracking vote — which showed how completely her authority was shot.

This has been a dismal episode for the Tories. They have embarrassed Britain before the world.

We are not a nation where MPs of the same party scream abuse at each other in our majestic, ancient Parliament and where PMs have to be booted out within weeks for incompetence.

Mandate

We are known for calm resolve and must regain that reputation.

It is fair to ask after this year-long Tory farce what mandate they still have. Here’s the answer: The 2019 manifesto which won Boris Johnson a stonking majority.

Yes, that election was also a vote for finalising Brexit and keeping Corbyn out. But the ideas of that Tory Government, particularly on spreading wealth and opportunity across the country, are more relevant now even than back then.

Boris was brilliant at reaching parts of the UK no other Tory could — and it is no surprise he feels he has unfinished business and is eyeing another tilt at No10 (if enough MPs will support him). 

He may be flawed — but he is a fantastic communicator who got right all the big calls on Brexit, Covid vaccines and Ukraine.

Some circumstances have been changed since 2019 by Covid and war. Money is far tighter now. Borrowing is off the charts. The case for exploring fracking is far stronger, with gas now in short supply.

But delivering on the rest of that manifesto — and its sensible pledges on crime, immigration, encouraging innovation, spreading wealth to the regions and exploiting our Brexit freedoms — at least gives the Tories a sound case for another two years in office.

Now they must find a leader to do what Truss could not in these tough times. Lead.