After only 28 days, Liz Truss has had the worst possible start – can she win back control?
In power for just 28 days – and for 10 of them politics was paused following the death of the Queen – it has been the worst possible start for Liz Truss.
A (mini) budget unveiling £45bn of tax cuts without a fiscal framework, precipitating a £65bn emergency bond buying programme by the Bank of England to protect pension funds.
The pound tanked, 1,000 mortgage deals were withdrawn from the markets in anticipation of an interest rates spike.
And then a prime minister who was not the lady for turning, has announced a huge policy U-turn.
So the question for the new prime minister was really a question of leadership – and judgement.
How bad is it and, crucially, can Liz Truss win back control?
She never had emphatic backing from the parliamentary party anyway – Rishi Sunak was initially their first choice.
Can she reassert authority after only 28 days? Is this already a prime minister in office, but not in power?
A tough set of questions after a brutal couple of weeks, this is a prime minister determined to march on.
Her message: These are difficult times and we are delivering.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Is Liz Truss trusted?
She batted away questions and ploughed on with her messages about making tough decisions and delivering the package of energy support for households and businesses.
As for the U-turn, the PM insisted that there was “absolutely no shame” in performing a reversal of her plan to abolish the 45p top rate of tax and she had listened to her party and the public.
A performance that, for her supporters, showed a politician with huge resilience and drive.
A PM clear-eyed about what she has to do for the economy. But for detractors, this is a leader in denial – deluded even – about the challenges she faces, with her party and the public too.
As she ploughs on, there are mutterings all around that she has lost control of her party and this will hamstring her agenda.
The U-turn on the 45p rate, the battleground now moving to the uprating of benefits.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Do the public and cabinet still trust Truss?
Read more:
Liz Truss says she has ‘absolutely no shame’ in U-turn on cutting 45p tax
One senior figure joked to me on Monday night that this was a PM with dozens of former cabinet ministers on the backbenches, and agitating.
As one member of the emerging “rebel alliance” put it to me: “The PM doesn’t have a mandate for much of what she wants to do but what she does have is a group of MPs prepared to manage her from without cabinet rather than within.”
So, a prime minister who is not in control of events and a Conservative Party in disarray.
There is no message of discipline from within her cabinet, with different ministers sharing opposing views on lifting benefits by earnings rather than inflation.
Click to subscribe to Beth Rigby Interviews… wherever you get your podcasts
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman is taking a shot at the rebels and accusing them of staging a coup over the 45p rate.
As for the leader, Ms Truss has to try to get a grip on her party, and her speech on Wednesday will be a moment for the new PM to try and get some momentum behind her.
But even one of her supporters said the PM has a matter of months to turn this around and close the gap in the polls.
For now, this Conservative government is looking like it will hand the keys to power over to Labour in the next general election.
If it stays that way, Ms Truss’s tumultuous start will only get worse.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump says will postpone 50% tariffs on EU until July
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
Read more from Sky News:
Gail’s backer plots rare move with bid for steak chain Flat Iron
AA owners line up banks to steer path towards £4.5bn exit
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
12 May: US and China reach agreement on tariffs
Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway