Can Liz Truss see eye to eye with her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt?

Jeremy Hunt, one of the faces of the One Nation Conservative camp within the Tory party, is the new chancellor under Liz Truss’s government.

Ideologically they may see eye to eye on keeping corporation tax low – Mr Hunt told Sky’s Sophy Ridge in July he not only wanted the tax not to rise but he wanted it slashed further – but Mr Hunt is by no means seen as an obvious bedfellow for the prime minister.

For example as health secretary, Mr Hunt was in favour of banning junk food adverts before 9pm as part of a push to reduce childhood obesity.

This policy was never implemented however, as it was seen as a ‘nanny state’ policy. This is just one example to suggest these two heavy hitters could end up falling out.

Unapologetic Truss says she ‘acted decisively’ in tense news conference – follow latest updates

Ms Truss has also notably been in favour of fracking when there is local community consent, but Mr Hunt has been loudly against the government’s decision to allow drilling in rural Surrey in his constituency, writing to Michael Gove earlier this year urging him to reconsider. Does this make him a part of the anti-growth coalition?

Moreover, it still remains to be seen whether the government will restore its aid budget to 0.7% of GDP – it is currently at 0.5%.

However, if Ms Truss decides the political and economic climate is too unstable to put that aid budget back up, we may see another row between No 10 and No 11 as Mr Hunt called for the 0.7% budget to be reinstated in the House of Commons in the spring.

Will Ms Truss’s libertarian instincts put her at loggerheads with her new chancellor? Or will the ideological differences between them make for a more balanced dialogue around the cabinet table?

Strategically, Ms Truss will be hoping that appointing Mr Hunt will assuage Tory anger and bring back the One Nation MPs out for blood. But Mr Hunt inspires a lukewarm reaction (at best), even among sympathetic MPs.

Firstly, he was not even able to gain enough support from fellow MPs in the latest leadership race to make it past the first round of voting.

Secondly, one former cabinet minister told me: “He brings no one with him” and is “yesterday’s man”.

Another former minister pleased with the hire said they were happy but not excited, and that it made little difference to Ms Truss’s life expectancy as prime minister: “She cannot reassert her authority after this. It’s over.”

Read more:
Who is the UK’s new chancellor Jeremy Hunt?

Although sacking Kwasi Kwarteng may look like a sign of strength from Ms Truss, she has now amputated her own political right arm, making her life 10 times harder.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss were seen as ideological soulmates, something mirrored in Ms Truss’s letter to her former chancellor where she said: “We share the same vision for our country.”

And now rebellious Tory backbenchers know the lady is for turning, she will be pulled in every which way by the increasingly divided factions of her chaotic party until she is ripped apart beyond repair.

:: The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will be speaking to Sky News from 7am today