Liz Truss was skewered over her leadership skills during a brutal interview with STV News on Sunday night, even before the latest U-turn had even been announced.
The prime minister was interviewed by the Scottish TV channel shortly ahead of her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s confirmation that the government was scrapping the tax cut for highest earners.
Presumably referring to the economic crisis and collapse of the pound Truss’ government triggered within weeks of being in office, journalist Kathryn Samson asked: “Prime minister, do you enjoy chaos?”
The prime minister replied: ″Well, I don’t know what your question is getting at. Why don’t you be more specific?”
″Do you think that for many Scottish voters, the first few weeks of your time in office has felt chaotic? Has felt like you don’t have a plan, that you’re out of control in some way?”
Truss replied: “We have a very clear plan, we understand that families across the country are struggling.
“I think we need to remember what the situation was earlier in the summer, which is people could be facing fuel bills, energy bills, of up to £6,000.”
The prime minister was referring here to the government’s attempts to reduce the annual energy bills for the public.
She introduced a supposed freeze on bills days after getting into office, so it now costs £2,500 for the typical household to pay their annual energy bill – but this does not apply to all households, despite Truss’ previous claims.
Samson quickly reminded the prime minister that the cost of living crisis is actually still ongoing, despite this slight relief from energy bills.
She explained: “Now they’re facing potentially losing their homes because of actions that have been taken in Downing Street. Have you made the situation worse?”
“What we have done is we have taken very clear steps to deal with energy bills, putting in place the £2,500 energy price guarantee, which was the biggest part of the mini-budget.”
“OK, so it’s not been chaotic?”
“We’ve set out a clear plan to drive economic growth,” Truss responded.
“I’ll take that as no,” Samson concluded.
It’s worth noting that Monday’s announcement was not even Truss’ most famous U-turn.
During the summer leadership contest, she turned back against her policy that regional pay should be introduced after substantial backlash.
She previously backed staying in the EU in 2016, before switching to become an ardent Leaver once the referendum results had been announced.
When she was a student, Truss was not only an outspoken member of the Liberal Democrats party but repeatedly expressed her republican views.
Now, she has positioned herself as a monarchist, in line with much of the Conservative Party.
Truss was also asked: “Would Paisley be proud to be associated with your policies at the moment?”
She replied: “Well, I’m proud to have lived in Paisley and I hope they’re proud of me.”
This comes after devastating polls were published last week, showing that Labour had an enormous 33-point lead over the Tories.
Truss’ new approval rating also fell to minus 37, according to findings from The Observer, – a worse net rating than the -28 Boris Johnson experienced before he resigned in July.
