The Liz Truss supremacy has begun with promises of bold plans to tackle a “bulging in-tray” of problems such as the cost of living crisis, according to the front pages of many of Tuesday’s newspapers. With the usual speech and visuals from the steps of No 10 delayed by 24 hours thanks to the Queen’s “episodic mobility issues”, the papers had to make do with Truss smiling broadly after she defeated Rishi Sunak to take the Tory crown and later become Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years. The Mail claims no prime minister since Thatcher has faced a “tougher in-tray”. Cue the headline “Cometh the hour, cometh the woman …” on top of a picture of Truss roaring at the press cameras.
One or two of the papers are already on first-name terms with the new prime minister. “Liz puts her foot on the gas”, says the Sun, as it bestows some chummy familiarity on our new leader.
The Metro’s splash is “Liz: I will deliver” and says she has a “bold plan” to tackle the cost of living crisis and the NHS.
The Guardian strikes a more sceptical tone with its main headline, which poses a question for the incoming PM: “Truss wins – but can she avert the looming crisis?”.
It notes that she will pack her cabinet with loyalists, meaning no place for the vanquished Sunak. It also reports that there is likely to be no white man in the top four great offices of state for the first time ever with Truss herself, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, James Cleverly at the Foreign Office and Suella Braverman at the Home Office making up the top team. “Straight to business” says the Times’ front page headline above a story predicting that Truss will freeze energy bills above a certain level in order to prevent “widespread hardship and bankruptcies”.
The Financial Times reports that protecting people from the high cost of energy will be very costly – “Truss in £100bn energy plan”.
The Telegraph appears to go further and says that bills might not go up for a few more years under Truss’s “vision for office”. “Energy bills to be frozen until the next election”, it says, while also reporting on the front that Truss is being urged to make Penny Mordaunt her deputy.
The Express urges us to “Put faith in Truss to deliver for Britain”.
If that rallying call sounds a little jaded after a the upheavals of recent years, the Mirror is in no doubt. “Same old Tories”, it says under a montage of the four Tory prime ministers of the past decade, whom the paper says have “wrecked the economy, trashed our public services, left millions worse off”.
The Daily Record doesn’t stop there and says that because Truss won the votes of only 50 Tory MPs at the start of the leadership election, and less than half of the votes of Tory members, she should “Call a general election now”.