U-turn or face election wipe out: British PM Liz Truss warned

Former minister attacks ‘cruel’ plans and ‘lurch to right’. Prime Minister popular with just 14 per cent of public.

Liz Truss with husband Hugh O'Leary after her speech on the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

The Conservative Party faces a landslide defeat at the next election unless British Prime Minister Liz Truss changes course, a former cabinet minister and close ally of her predecessor Boris Johnson has warned.

Nadine Dorries, who was a prominent supporter of Ms Truss during the Tory leadership contest, said the Prime Minister had made some “big mistakes” in her first weeks in office and did not have a mandate for her radical agenda.

The former culture secretary accused Ms Truss of abandoning some of Mr Johnson’s most prominent policies and said that plans to curb benefit increases were “cruel” and unconservative at a time when people were struggling to cope with the cost of living. Ms Dorries added that the government was “lurching to the right” and abandoning the centre ground to Labour.

Ms Truss on Wednesday night used her speech on the last day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham to attack the “enemies of enterprise”. She said that Britain was too reluctant to “do things differently” as she staked her premiership on developing the economy.

Despite a generally well-­received speech, there is concern in both No 10 and the cabinet about Ms Truss’s future and the direction of her government.

She is more unpopular than Mr Johnson was at any point during his premiership, YouGov polling has found. Fourteen per cent of the public have a favourable impression of Ms Truss, while 73 per cent view her unfavourably.

The Prime Minister’s authority has been weakened after a tumultuous party conference which was beset by cabinet infighting. During the conference she also abandoned plans to scrap the 45 per cent rate of income tax.

Ms Dorries said that the Conservatives were at risk of a landslide defeat to Labour comparable with the Canadian elections in 2015, when Justin Trudeau defeated Stephen Harper after a decade of Conservative rule. The next general election is due by the end of 2024 and Labour under Keir Starmer is 27 percentage points ahead of the Tories in the latest YouGov poll.

She said: “I understand that we need to rocket-booster growth, but you don’t do that by throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You don’t win elections by lurching to the right and deserting the centre ground for Keir Starmer to place his flag on. If we continue down this path, we absolutely will be facing a Stephen Harper-type wipeout. I’m sure she’s listened and will stop and rethink.”

A rebellion is already growing among Tory MPs over plans to curb increases in benefits. At the party conference, some MPs were openly discussing whether it had been a mistake to remove Mr Johnson from office.

Cabinet ministers with reservations include Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, Chloe Smith, the work and pensions secretary, Robert Buckland, the Wales secretary, and Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons. Truss allies argue it would be unfair to go ahead with double-digit increases in benefit payments at a time when the pay of workers who do not claim benefits is rising by 5 per cent.

Ms Dorries said: “Boris Johnson’s government was clear that benefits should rise with inflation – this must be right. If it rises in line with wages that will mean a real-term cut for millions of people at a time when global costs are rising due to a pandemic and Putin’s war. It would be cruel, unjust and fundamentally unconservative.”

She accused the government of shelving several of Mr Johnson’s policies, including privatising Channel 4, reviewing the BBC’s licence fee, introducing the Online Safety Bill and bringing forward new animal welfare legislation. “What people should do today is give Liz some space,” Ms Dorries said.

“She is very aware she has made some big mistakes over the past few weeks. It wasn’t her mistake that Conservative MPs removed Boris Johnson. But to remove his policies as well is a mistake. That was our mandate, our deal with the voters. Removing a prime minister and the policies people voted for less than three years ago is a troubling precedent to set in a democracy.”

Two cabinet ministers echoed Ms Dorries’ concerns about Ms Truss. While Ms Truss resoundingly beat Rishi Sunak in the leadership ballot of Tory members last month, the former chancellor of the exchequer won the ballot of MPs to decide the two candidates to put to the grassroots.

One said: “She doesn’t have a mandate for what she’s doing, her plans are much more radical than anything in the manifesto. Lots of it wasn’t even discussed during the Tory leadership campaign.

“She didn’t win the support of a majority of Tory MPs and many of those backing her did so because they didn’t want Rishi. She hasn’t grasped the fact that they weren’t loyal to her, she doesn’t have a mandate from the parliamentary party.”

Another said: “You have to remember that the PM wants to do lots of things which weren’t in the manifesto, but that means trouble not just in the Commons but also in the Lords. She has a majority but she is going to have to choose which issues she wants to test her majority on.”

The Times