# Liz Truss tries to lead the UK {and resigns as of 2022-10-20} **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992 "2022-09-05T14:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/461 "2022-10-21T09:51:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t understand why Truss was chosen in the first place. Why would her party choose her as leader and then want to be rid of her in four scaramuccis? There were some rumblings during the previous leadership contest that there was a plan among the Johnsonites to pick the worst possible candidate who would rapidly implode, thus making Boris look much better by comparison and allowing him to sweep back into office. Sadly, this is now looking like an entirely credible theory. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/462 "2022-10-21T10:05:15Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > at the least it would trigger an immediate election, that Boris would lose. By what mechanism? There would be public outrage for a few days, probably some fairly large protest marches, all of which Boris would ignore, then he would carry on his (un)merry way. Most of us are too jaded or too busy to storm 10 Downing Street. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/463 "2022-10-21T10:27:42Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > By what mechanism? There would be public outrage for a few days, probably some fairly large protest marches, all of which Boris would ignore, then he would carry on his (un)merry way. Most of us are too jaded or too busy to storm 10 Downing Street. Well by _that_ mechanism; I just dispute the scale of it. Public outrage would be massive, there would be enough fighting in the commons that the last few weeks will seem like a hug-a-thon by comparison, and the majority of the media will go on and on about how disgraceful this is. Oh, and more market turmoil. A new election would have to be called, fast. If Boris were to return, and Ladbrokes were taking bets, I’d happily wager a month’s salary that he won’t make it to 2025. But I suspect Ladbrokes would only give me 1/50 odds (i.e. I get my stake back, plus 2%) or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/464 "2022-10-21T10:38:18Z")
If Boris gets back in, his followers (and media sources like the Daily Mail) would probably be thrilled, but I suspect the markets would not be - the whole reason Boris left was that he was a force for chaos in the country, and a return under these circumstances will not calm things down. Much as I loathe Sunak, he seems to be the most market-friendly of the current options available. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/465 "2022-10-21T10:59:27Z")
I’m not so sure. The markets were upset by the radical and stupid Truss/Kwarteng budget. Boris doesn’t give a toss for such technicalities and would just appoint someone boring to do the boring things like worry about money. And the markets like boring. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/466 "2022-10-21T11:18:24Z")
Johnson wasn’t removed due to markets. Johnson was removed because he was an electoral liability. This has not changed, indeed, now Truss has gone it seems as the tories actually less popular. The shit sticks. There is only one move left for a chance of a future for the Conservative party, and that is sensible. Any sort of move to the middle, even by a small amount (and Sunak isn’t towards the middle, he’s more of the same) might placate things. But this is the conservative party/continuity BNP, they’ve proven themselves capable of making the worst possible choice many times over now. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/467 "2022-10-21T11:30:32Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > this is exactly why I want to get to rock Do you really think there is a bottom? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/468 "2022-10-21T12:00:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Why is this the first time ever I’m encountering this word? Before today, I only knew it as the little-used first person plural pronoun in French. Really? It’s a word I hear (and have used) often. Rhymes with house. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/469 "2022-10-21T12:04:31Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Johnson was removed because he was an electoral liability. The electorate has a short memory. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/470 "2022-10-21T12:10:55Z")
Not necessarily. There can be short-term volatility, but there can also be patterns where a position solidified and becomes baked-in. Here’s one prediction for « if the election were held today », suggesting a crushing Labour majority. [https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction\_main.html](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html) I appreciate that the election may be as long as two years away, but the steady decline in Tory support over the past two years is also a factor. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/471 "2022-10-21T12:12:27Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Really? It’s a word I hear (and have used) often. Rhymes with house. Yep, really. Never heard it before … yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/472 "2022-10-21T12:12:50Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > My bet is Boris as next PM (the electorate never rejected him) and quite likely Boris wins the next election as well. Boris’s “person in the street” supporters love him and will forgive him the sort of transgressions over which he resigned. Just as Trumpsters don’t give a damn about Trump’s much more serious transgressions. > > The UK comprises (amongst other demographics) a tiny but extremely powerful and wealthy upper class, a moderately sized middle class that can eloquently and correctly point out where the fuck the country is going wrong, and a much larger class of small c conservative xenophobic Little Englanders. I agree with some of your speculation. I think you are rather harsh on the electorate - by your measure, half my family would fall into ’ small c conservative xenophobic Little Englanders.’ Which they aren’t. Deluded about Brexit and the Conservative Party perhaps, but there isn’t simply one reason that people vote conservative, whatever us Guardian readers might think. Anyhow, whilst I would normally agree that I could see Boris scraping another election victory, that would be in a ‘normal year’. We are sliding head first into a recession, mortgage rates are rocketing, fuel bills are out of control, the NHS is on its knees, people of all classes are somewhere on a scale of very worried to really suffering, and no government gets to survive that. They are toast, whoever leads them. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/473 "2022-10-21T12:13:10Z")
It’s a very useful word, you should adopt it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/474 "2022-10-21T12:13:12Z")
I’ve heard it, but for me it’s a Britishism; not common this side of the pond. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/475 "2022-10-21T12:19:57Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Rhymes with house. Actually, according to the wiktionary citation in my first post on this topic, its American pronunciation is just like _noose_. > [@SanVito](#): > > It’s a very useful word, you should adopt it. I think I have enough words for the concept, and it’s not a very pleasant looking or sounding word to me, so I doubt I’ll use it much. Good to know it exists, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/476 "2022-10-21T12:20:55Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Johnson was removed because he was an electoral liability. Tell that to the many many people currently laying the groundwork for his return. The Guardian currently has stories on the ticker about cabinet member Ben Wallace leaning toward supporting Boris, as well as unnamed MPs trying to have ongoing internal investigations into Johnson’s ethics violations quashed, to eliminate the headache they would create if Boris returns and then those inquiries culminate in damning findings. I don’t disagree that the backlash would be fierce. But evidently there is political calculus inside the party that as much of a liability Boris represents, the other candidates could be _worse._ That’s the thing, there are simply no good choices. Truss was picked because she was supposed to be kind of a neutral unknown, and _that_ didn’t work out. Boris is a clownish villain, but he’s a _known_ clownish villain. Ultimately the Conservatives are doomed in the near term. They’re just trying to figure out which meal they want on their plate before the axe falls. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/477 "2022-10-21T12:53:41Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > The eloquence and media reach of the chattering middle class tends to obscure the reality, which is that the upper class are very good at manipulating the Little Englanders into voting in a way that amounts to smashing themselves in the face. It seems completely obvious - based on the bombardment of good sense put out by the middle class - what should happen, then it doesn’t once it goes to a vote. Over here in the US, one party has targeted poor, low-educated, misinformed voters with xenophobic, hate and fear-based messaging that results in these people voting against their own interests. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/478 "2022-10-21T13:00:55Z")
Same in the UK - and, I believe, many other places such as Brazil, the Philippines, India, Australia (though I’m no expert on any of those - correct me if I’m wrong). ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/479 "2022-10-21T13:13:53Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > We are sliding head first into a recession, mortgage rates are rocketing, fuel bills are out of control, the NHS is on its knees, people of all classes are somewhere on a scale of very worried to really suffering, and no government gets to survive that. It’s been the sort of event that comes to symbolise everything that’s turned people from doubting to conviction that the government has shot its bolt/lost the plot: like Gordon Brown’s chapter of accidents (“f[rom Stalin to Mr Bean](https://youtu.be/P9ZErdQy96U)”), Lamont frantically chucking money into trying (and failing) to stay in fixed exchange rates (likewise the Attlee and Wilson governments) or the way the Tories in the 50s would go on and on about [groundnuts](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_groundnut_scheme). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/480 "2022-10-21T13:25:34Z")
I also saw this morning, “Who do you think will play Liz Truss in the last ten seconds of _The Crown_?” > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I think they should lock all 357 Conservative MP’s in a room with 356 chairs. Play music and when it stops, the person who does not get a chair has to be the Prime Minister. > > Seems the only fair way to do it. > > (Edit: Maybe give them all a ball peen hammer as well…) Nice. In the early 1950s, when Italian politics were notorious for their upheavals and instability, this joke made the rounds: Two Italian MPs are sitting on the back benches, very bored, as a parliamentary debate drones on around them. One says, “I think I’ll take a little nap, Paolo.” The other nods. “Of course, Giorgio.” Awhile later, Giorgio wakes up, looks at the clock and is surprised to see that nearly an hour has passed. He stretches and yawns. “Did I miss anything, Paolo?” he asks his seatmate. “Not much,” the other man says. “But you were Prime Minister twice.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992.md?page=25)