Liz Truss’s month of mayhem: From bumpy rides to Balmoral to bumpier battles in Birmingham
The plane flying Liz Truss to meet the Queen at Balmoral for her appointment as prime minister a month ago was hit by turbulence in bad weather and struggled to land at Aberdeen airport.
The aircraft’s helpless circling in mid-air was seen at the time as a bad omen for her premiership.
And after a month of mayhem for the new PM, perhaps it was indeed a warning of trouble ahead.
Politics live: Truss takes aim at ‘anti-growth coalition’ in pivotal speech
In the month since Ms Truss was confirmed as Tory leader, her leadership has faced the death and mourning of the Queen, a bungled budget, markets chaos, U-turns, polls suggesting a Labour landslide and a backbench “coup” against her.
Her response, in a fighting and defiant speech at the end of a fractious and chaotic Tory conference in Birmingham, was to declare: “Whenever there is change, there is disruption. And not everyone will be in favour of change.”
Let’s take a look at the key dates in this rocky start in Number 10.
Monday 5 September
Much has changed dramatically since Ms Truss defeated Rishi Sunak for the Conservative crown by 57.4% to 42.6% – a comfortable margin, but slimmer than in other recent Tory leadership elections.
In her victory speech at London’s Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, she described the contest as “one of the longest job interviews in history”.
She praised her predecessor, Boris Johnson, and said: “You got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn. You rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin.”
Tuesday 6 September
Safely back from stormy Balmoral, Ms Truss strode up Downing Street with her slightly bemused looking husband Hugh O’Leary and told the nation: “Together we can ride out the storm.”
But the political – and economic – storm, already becoming perilous for the new PM because of soaring energy prices, was only just beginning.
The PM and her husband Hugh O’Leary arrive in Downing Street as her premiership begins
Although her swift cabinet reshuffle contained few surprises and her appointments had been widely predicted, it was a brutal purge of those ministers who had backed her leadership rival, Mr Sunak.
Into the top jobs came her most loyal allies and backers: Therese Coffey, Kwasi Kwarteng, James Cleverly, Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadhim Zahawi and Brandon Lewis.
Banished to the backbenches were Michael Gove, Grant Shapps, Sajid Javid and many more, in a cull that began to backfire badly at this week’s Tory conference, when Mr Gove and Mr Shapps led the mutiny on the 45p tax cut.
Wednesday 7 September
In an eagerly awaited first Prime Minister’s Questions for the new premier, Ms Truss put in a sound performance and delighted Tory backbenchers with her counter-attacks against Sir Keir Starmer.
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Truss told the Commons during her first PMQs that she wants to keep taxation low
When the Labour leader demanded a windfall tax on energy giants to fund her plans to help families pay soaring energy bills, she gave her now familiar answer: “We cannot tax our way to growth.”
Thursday 8 September
The pivotal moment in the PM’s month of mayhem came when she was passed a note by Cabinet Office Minister Nadhim Zahawi as she delivered her Commons statement on her £150bn package to freeze energy bills.
The news in the note – that the Queen was gravely ill just two days after Ms Truss had been to see her at Balmoral to be appointed prime minister – stunned Westminster and put politics into suspension for 11 days.
After the announcement of the Queen’s death at 6.30pm, the new PM appeared in Downing Street in a black dress and, with her voice quivering with emotion, paid a solemn tribute to the monarch.
The PM delivers delivers a speech after the death of the Queen
The Queen was “the rock on which modern Britain was built”, she said, and her death was a huge shock to the country and the world.
She said the Queen’s sense of duty had been a personal inspiration to her and many other Britons, adding: “She was the very spirit of Great Britain and that spirit will endure.”
9 to 19 September
With the nation still reeling from the shock of the Queen’s death, the PM led two days of tributes in Parliament, telling MPs: “In the hours since last night’s shocking news, we have witnessed the most heartfelt outpouring of grief at the loss of her late majesty the Queen.
“Crowds have gathered, flags have been lowered to half-mast, tributes have been sent from every continent around the world.”
And after King Charles’ accession to the throne the following day, Ms Truss travelled to Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff as the new King attended cathedral services to honour his late mother’s life.
King Charles III and the prime minister during their first audience
She attended her first formal audience with the new King, a meeting where it has been claimed she advised him not to attend the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt next month – a claim dismissed as “ridiculous” by 10 Downing Street.
At the Queen’s funeral she read a lesson from St John’s gospel. But as she arrived at Westminster Abbey with her husband, she would have been unaware that two Australian broadcasters commentating on the funeral mistook her for a “minor royal”.
20 and 21 September
After the Queen’s funeral, Ms Truss made a whirlwind visit to the United Nations General Assembly – a regular date in the September calendar for prime ministers, but a stern test for one only in office for two weeks.
As a newcomer, she had a middle-of-the-night graveyard slot in the speeches and at her first face-to-face meeting with Joe Biden was confronted by the US president on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“We are both committed to protecting the Good Friday Agreement of Northern Ireland and I’m looking forward to hearing what’s on your mind,” he challenged her pointedly.
Friday 23 September
Back in London, the PM sat alongside her “dynamic new chancellor”, as she called him in her conference speech, Kwasi Kwarteng, as he delivered his delayed “growth plan”.
In a clumsy remark at the Tory conference, he appeared to blame the Queen’s death for the furore it provoked.
“Literally four days after the funeral, we had the mini-budget,” he said. “It was a high-speed, high pressure environment.”
The growth plan was a disaster.
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Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announces tax cuts for 31 million people
Mr Kwarteng’s £45bn tax-cutting package for the rich sent the pound crashing to its lowest level against the dollar in 37 years. He announced more than £400bn of extra borrowing over the coming years to fund the biggest giveaway since Anthony Barber’s ill-fated 1972 budget.
He scrapped the 45% rate of income tax paid by those earning more than £150,000 a year, abolished the cap on bankers’ bonuses, reversed the rise in National Insurance contributions and brought forward by a year the reduction in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19%, pencilled in by Mr Sunak for 2024.
The respected Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies reacted: “The chancellor announced the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years without even a semblance of an effort to make the public finance numbers add up.
“Instead, the plan seems to be to borrow large sums at increasingly expensive rates, put government debt on an unsustainable rising path and hope that we get better growth. Mr Kwarteng is not just gambling on a new strategy, he is betting the house.”
The Daily Mail cooed: “At last! A true Tory budget.” But the generally Tory-supporting Economist said the government’s reckless incompetence may have already damaged it beyond repair.
Monday 26 September
After Mr Kwarteng said in a TV interview there were more tax cuts to come, the pound plunged even further.
The turmoil was a gift to Labour, enjoying a largely successful conference in Liverpool.
Thursday 29 September
But if the run on the pound was bad, worse was to come. The Bank of England was forced to calm the bond market with a £65bn bailout after a surge in gilt yields threatened to wipe out many pension funds.
At the same time, a YouGov opinion poll gave Labour a massive 33-point lead over the Conservatives, suggesting a vote share of 54% for Sir Keir’s party and just 21% for the Tories.
Sir Keir Starmer had a successful Labour conference in Liverpool. Pic: AP
It was the biggest Labour lead since Tony Blair’s honeymoon period in the months after his 1997 general election landslide.
The current Labour leader called for the recall of parliament to address the financial crisis. He urged the government to abandon the mini-budget measures which triggered the market turmoil and said the PM was a “danger” to the economy and has lost control.
Sunday 2 October
As the Tory conference opened in Birmingham, Ms Truss was accused of “throwing Mr Kwarteng under a bus” over the 45% tax fiasco and distancing herself from it when she said in an interview: “It was a decision that the chancellor made.”
As a backbench mutiny reached dangerous levels, with some leading backbenchers even claiming the PM could be ousted within weeks, she performed a humiliating late-night U-turn which was revealed to bemused and shell-shocked cabinet ministers in the early hours of Monday morning.
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Asked repeatedly whether or not her chancellor has her trust, Ms Truss chooses to avoid answering directly
After Mr Kwarteng confirmed his embarrassing retreat at 7.30am, in what looked like another snub the PM was asked three times if she trusted her chancellor but failed to declare her support for him.
Later, a sweating Mr Kwarteng gave an unconvincing conference speech, which was described as more trite than contrite.
Tuesday 4 October
As she came to the end of her first month as PM, Ms Truss’s decision to sack so many heavy hitters was coming back to bite her as the Tory conference descended into a bitter civil war.
After Michael Gove launched a series of highly targeted attacks against the cut to the 45p tax rate, the spurned Grant Shapps declared that she may have as little as 10 days to salvage her premiership and the next few days were the “critical period” for her to turn things around.
Michael Gove made his views clear during the Tory conference
Nadine Dorries, previously an enthusiastic Truss supporter, accused her of tearing up the Tory manifesto and called for a general election. Then Priti Patel accused the government of “spending today with no thought for tomorrow”.
But even worse, the bickering spread to inside the cabinet, with Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt backing those demanding the bigger benefit increase, then Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland weighing in too.
Amid the open warfare, the new Home Secretary Suella Braverman had accused rebels of mounting a “coup” against the PM on the 45% tax cut, an attack that inflamed the dissent on the backbenches.
Wednesday 5 October
In a combative fightback Ms Truss took to the stage on the final day of conference and declared war on an “anti-growth coalition”.
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Truss tells the conference in Birmingham: ‘There will be disruption – and not everyone will like it’
Thursday 6 October
Ms Truss is beginning her second month as prime minister flying to Prague for a meeting with European leaders to galvanise the response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
And unlike her bumpy journey to Balmoral a month ago, she’ll be hoping for a smooth, turbulence-free flight this time, and no more omens of another month of mayhem.
World
‘At least 59 killed’ in Gaza after Israeli military opens fire near aid centre and carries out strikes
At least 59 Palestinians have reportedly been killed after the Israeli military opened fire near an aid centre in Gaza and carried out strikes across the territory.
The Red Cross, which operates a field hospital in Rafah, said 25 people were “declared dead upon arrival” and “six more died after admittance” following gunfire near an aid distribution centre in the southern Gazan city.
The humanitarian organisation added that it also received 132 patients “suffering from weapon-related injuries” after the incident.
The Red Cross said: “The overwhelming majority of these patients sustained gunshot wounds, and all responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites.”
The organisation said the number of deaths marks the hospital’s “largest influx of fatalities” since it began operations in May last year.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
It said in a statement: “Earlier today, several suspects were identified approaching IDF troops operating in the Rafah area, posing a threat to the troops, hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site.
“IDF troops operated in order to prevent the suspects from approaching them and fired warning shots.”
Palestinians mourn a loved one following the incident near the aid centre. Pic: Reuters
Mother’s despair over shooting
Somia Alshaar told Sky News her 17-year-old son Nasir was shot dead while visiting the aid centre after she told him not to go.
She said: “He went to get us tahini so we could eat.
“He went to get flour. He told me ‘mama, we don’t have tahini. Today I’ll bring you flour. Even if it kills me, I will get you flour’.
“He left the house and didn’t return. They told me at the hospital: your son…’Oh God, oh Lord’.”
Asked where her son was shot, she replied: “In the chest. Yes, in the chest.”
Somia Alshaar, pictured with her daughter, says her son was shot dead. Pic: Reuters
‘A policy of mass murder’
Hassan Omran, a paramedic with Gaza’s ministry of health, told Sky News after the incident that humanitarian aid centres in Gaza are now “centres of mass death”.
Speaking in Khan Younis, he said: “Today, there were more than 150 injuries and more than 20 martyrs at the aid distribution centres… the Israeli occupation deliberately kills and commits genocide. The Israeli occupation is carrying out a policy of mass murder.
“They call people to come get their daily food, and then, when citizens arrive at these centres, they are killed in cold blood.
“All the victims have gunshot wounds to the head and chest, meaning the enemy is committing these crimes deliberately.”
Israel has rejected genocide accusations and denies targeting civilians.
Two boys mourn their brother at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
‘Lies being peddled’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial US and Israeli-backed group which operates the distribution centre near Rafah, said: “Hamas is claiming there was violence at our aid distribution sites today. False.
“Once again, there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites.
“But that’s not stopping some from spreading the lies being peddled by ‘officials’ at the Hamas-controlled Nasser Hospital.”
The Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah has recorded more than 250 fatalities and treated more than 3,400 “weapon-wounded patients” since new food distribution sites were set up in Gaza on 27 May.
Read more:
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points
’10 children killed’ waiting for Gaza health clinic to open
Israel says permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’
Palestinians inspect the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
It comes after four children and two women were among at least 13 people who died in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli strikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the territory said.
Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not responded to a request for comment on the reported deaths.
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Israeli has been carrying out attacks in Gaza since Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages on 7 October 2023.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The latest fatalities in Gaza comes as a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man was beaten to death by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health ministry said.
Sayafollah Musallet, also known as Saif, was killed during a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers in Sinjil, north of Ramallah, the ministry said.
A second man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, died after being shot in the chest.
Mr Musallet’s family, from Tampa Florida, has called on the US State Department to lead an “immediate investigation”.
A State Department spokesperson said it was aware of the incident but it had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israeli military said the confrontation broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.
As investigators continue to piece together the full picture, early findings of the Air India crash are pointing towards a critical area of concern — the aircraft’s fuel control switches.
The flight, bound for London Gatwick, crashed just moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board the plane and at least 19 on the ground.
According to the preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the two engine fuel control switches on the plane were moved from the “RUN” to “CUTOFF” position.
These switches control fuel flow to the engines and should only be used when the aircraft is on ground, first to start the engines before a flight and later to shut them down at the gate.
They are designed so they’re unlikely to be changed accidentally, pointing to possible human error on the Air India flight.
The findings include the final conversation between the pilots and show there was confusion in the cockpit as well.
When one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel, he responded to say he did not do so.
The Air India plane before the crash. Pic: Takagi
Moments later, a Mayday call was made from the cockpit, but the plane could not regain power quickly enough and plummeted to the ground.
Captain Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, an organisation dedicated to aviation safety, told Sky News: “This exchange indicates that the engine shutdowns were uncommanded.
“However, the report does not identify the cause – whether it was crew error, mechanical malfunction, or electronic failure.”
Previous warning of ‘possible fuel switch issue’
“The Boeing 787 uses spring-loaded locking mechanisms on its fuel control switches to prevent accidental movement,” Mr Singh explained.
But a previous bulletin from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “warned that these switches might be installed with the locking feature disengaged,” he said.
This could “make them susceptible to unintended movement due to vibration, contact, or quadrant flex”, he added.
The plane’s tail lodged in a building. Pic: Reuters
Speaking to Sky News, aviation expert Terry Tozner said: “The take-off was normal, the aircraft rotated at the correct speed left the ground and almost immediately, the cut-off switches were selected to off, one then two.
“But nobody has said with any clarity whether or not the latch mechanisms worked okay on this particular aircraft. So we can only assume that they were in normal working order.”
In India, there has been a backlash over the findings, with some saying the report points to pilot error without much information and almost dismisses the possibility of a mechanical or electric failure.
Indian government responds
India’s civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has been quick to respond, saying: “We care for the welfare and the wellbeing of pilots so let’s not jump to any conclusions at this stage, let us wait for the final report.
“I believe we have the most wonderful workforce of pilots and crew in the whole world.”
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India plane crash survivor carries brother’s coffin
Both pilots were experienced, with around 19,000 flying hours between them, including more than 9,000 on Boeing 787s.
The report says the aircraft maintenance checks were on schedule and that there are no signs of fuel contamination or a bird strike.
So far, no safety recommendations have been issued to Boeing or General Electric, the engine manufacturers.
Concern over destroyed flight recorder
Mr Singh said “the survivability of the flight recorders also raises concern”.
The plane’s rear flight recorder, designed to withstand impact forces of 3,400 Gs and temperatures of 1,100C for 60 minutes, “was damaged beyond recovery”.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the crash
Air India’s lone survivor is nothing short of miracle
“The Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which deploys automatically when both engines fail and power drops below a threshold, was observed as deployed in CCTV footage when the aircraft was approximately 60ft above ground level,” Mr Singh said.
“This suggests that the dual engine failure likely occurred before the official timestamp of 08:08:42 UTC, implying a possible discrepancy.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the crash site. Pic: X/AP
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Mr Singh said it was also “of particular note” that the plane’s emergency locator transmitter (ELT) did not send any signal after the crash.
“Was the ELT damaged, unarmed, mis-wired, or malfunctioning?” he said.
The report has generated more questions than answers on topics including human error, power source failures and mechanical or electrical malfunction.
The final report is expected to take a year. Meanwhile, families grapple with the unimaginable loss of loved ones in one of the worst disasters in India’s aviation history.
Donald Trump has announced he will impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from 1 August.
The tariffs could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US.
Mr Trump has also imposed a 30% tariff on goods from Mexico, according to a post from his Truth Social account.
Announcing the moves in separate letters on the account, the president said the US trade deficit was a national security threat.
In his letter to the EU, he wrote: “We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, trade Deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-Tariff, policies, and trade barriers.
“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal.”
In his letter to Mexico, Mr Trump said he did not think the country had done enough to stop the US from turning into a “narco-trafficking playground”.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today that the EU could adopt “proportionate countermeasures” if the US proceeds with imposing the 30% tariff.
Ms von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.
“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she continued.
“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”
Ms von der Leyen has also said imposing tariffs on EU exports would “disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains”.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on the X social media platform that Mr Trump’s announcement was “very concerning and not the way forward”.
He added: “The European Commission can count on our full support. As the EU we must remain united and resolute in pursuing an outcome with the United States that is mutually beneficial.”
Mexico’s economy ministry said a bilateral working group aims to reach an alternative to the 30% US tariffs before they are due to take effect.
The country was informed by the US that it would receive a letter about the tariffs, the ministry’s statement said, adding that Mexico was negotiating.
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Trump plans to hit Canada with 35% tariff
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How ‘liberation day’ unfolded
Trump’s tariff threats and delays
On his so-called “liberation day” in April, Mr Trump unleashed “reciprocal tariffs” on many of America’s trade partners.
The US president said he was targeting countries with which America has a trade imbalance.
However, since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
The US imposed a 20% tariff on imported goods from the EU in April but it was later paused and the bloc has since been paying a baseline tariff of 10% on goods it exports to the US.
In May, while the US and EU where holding trade negotiations, Mr Trump threated to impose a 50% tariff on the bloc as talks didn’t progress as he would have liked.
However, he later announced he was delaying the imposition of that tariff while negotiations over a trade deal took place.
As of earlier this week, the EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders were still hoping to strike a trade deal with the Trump administration.
Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.
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