Macron was right to say that while Queen Elizabeth was our Queen, to the world she was The Queen. That this became so wasn’t inevitable. How and why did it happen?
Much has been written about Queen Elizabeth’s Christianity – and rightly, because it was part of the very stuff of her. But it was Christianity with a particular, personal twist. She will have believed all her life that she was called to the throne.
What a Prime Minister has a right to do it may not be wise for them to do. But let no-one accuse Truss of not knowing what she wants.
I’ll be looking at these changes mainly through four lenses: balance, experience, capacity and authority. Who did each member vote for? What experience do they have? How able are they – and who turned down a job?
Expectations of the new Prime Minister are so low that the only way for her may be up. The Conservatives need her to succeed. Far more importantly, so does Britain.
She knew one big thing: economic policy must change. He knew lots of little things – but not enough to make a late surge count for a slower start.
172,437 people were eligible to vote and there was an 83 per cent turn out. Truss won 81,326 votes and Sunak 60,399.
But there are truths in life – for example, that a stich in time saves nine, beggars can’t be choosers…and that you can’t spend more than your earn. His premiership ends with record spending and taxes.
She will only be able to effect her planned tax cuts within a financial framework robust enough to convince the markets of its coherence.
If Truss is set on rewriting the Integrated Review, she will need bandwidth at the top of govenment to do so effectively, given the awesome scale of the economic challenges facing her.
Activists are willing to go along with the Party as long as it’s prepared to go along with them. Which has meant it doing so on the great issues of the day. Which in recent years have boiled down to one – Brexit.
Loyalty is not enough, and were all of her key campaign staff simply to be translated up, there would be a collective lack of experience at the very top of government.
When it comes to economic policy, this contest will have given her a mandate to break with the recent past – or at least try to.
His political misfortunes have rendered his core prejudices more visible – among them, a feel for people born with talent but without advantage who can’t develop the first because they lack the second.
I’m deeply disappointed to see that my remarks are being taken out of context, and am grateful to have this chance to correct the record.