Normal politics remained suspended by the Queen’s death. On the evening of the 16th of September, the King, the Princess Royal, and the Earl of Wessex united for the Vigil of the Princes, as the late monarch continued to lie in state. There were reports the King aimed to “slim down” the monarchy.
Despite previous reports that Joe Biden would be one of the world leaders with whom Liz Truss would have an “informal meeting” on the Sunday before the funeral, it was announced on the Saturday that her first full bilateral meeting with the US President would be at the United Nations on the upcoming Wednesday. Iain Duncan Smith accused the ‘Establishment’ of “kowtowing” to China’s leaders.
Late on the 17th September, the Sunday papers revealed both that Kwasi Kwarteng’s upcoming cut to National Insurance was expected to take effect from November’s pay slips, and that Mark Fullbrook, Truss’s Chief of Staff and choice to spearhead the next Tory election campaign, had been questioned by the FBI.
With acknowledgments to Harry Cole and James Heale‘s Out of the Blue: the Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss