Still in New York – and having pledged that she was “prepared to be unpopular” the day before – Truss met with Joe Biden for their first bilateral meeting. He urged the Prime Minister to work with the European Union to resolve tensions around post-Brexit trading relations in Northern Ireland, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
That evening, Truss addressed the United Nation’s General Assembly. She suggested Russia should pay the costs for rebuilding Ukraine after the war. She suggested 2022 was they war of “freedom fighting back”, and that fellow leaders should prepare for new threats.
She also met Emmanuel Macron; a failure to raise the issue of small boats would raise the ire of a few MPs. She hinted that she sought to review whether the UK could move its embassy to Jerusalem, in a conversation with her Israeli counterpart.
Back in the United Kingdom, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new Business Secretary, announced a cap on wholesale energy costs for business customers. He also backed allowing fracking in the UK, despite his party’s previous manifesto commitments.
Work also continued on the mini-Budget, with reports suggesting Kwasi Kwarteng would announce a cut to stamp duty.
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