Inside Politics: Out of the fire, into the frying pan

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

So the Conservative Party conference is over. Apparently it didn’t go that well – you might have read and heard the same. Liz Truss is getting away from it all today with a trip to Prague. But her domestic problems are only getting worse as MPs prepare for a return to Westminster next week.

Parliament is in recess.

Labour leader Keir Starmer is out on the airwaves this morning, attacking the government on mortgage costs.

Jake Berry, Tory Party chairman, is on GB News at 9.05am.

Following one of the most divided and ill-disciplined party conferences in living memory, Liz Truss heads to Prague today for the first meeting of the European Political Community, where she will have talks with Emmanuel Macron, the French president and other leaders. Downing Street said last night that the PM would reaffirm the UK’s support for Ukraine and call for unity from her peers in tackling migration.

Truss’s sojourn in the picturesque Czech Republic capital will certainly provide some respite from what has been a difficult week. But back at home, her problems are mounting up and getting increasingly ugly, with two stories this morning causing a headache for a leader who is stepping out of the fire and into the frying pan, as MPs head back to Westminster following the end of the conference season and the scale of the cost of living crisis becomes more apparent with each passing day.

The first is our exclusive report revealing that the PM accepted help during her leadership campaign from a former government minister accused of sexual harassment, according to No 10 sources. Truss not only knew about the allegations, officials said, but suggested that he might make a return to serve in her government. The politician, who denies any wrongdoing, initially tried to settle the matter informally with a letter of apology to the woman before reaching a financial settlement in the summer. No 10 declined to comment last night, saying the matter relates to Ms Truss’ leadership bid. Spokespeople for Truss did not respond to a request for comment.

Also making difficult reading for Truss this morning are comments by Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, warning the PM she must change course or face an electoral wipeout in 2024, when voters are next expected to go to the polls. Just for good measure, the Boris Johnson loyalist criticised Truss’s “lurch to the right”, describing her plan as “cruel”.

The intervention by Dorries – her second this week – is the latest sign of discontent among Tory backbenchers, many of whom fear they could lose their seats as a result of Truss’s less-than-convincing start in No 10. Ominously for the PM, opposition to her plans appears to compromise MPs from all wings of the party and different intakes. And there are reports this morning that the cabinet rebellion against increasing benefits by wages rather than inflation, with one minister brazenly telling the i: “We are going to win. I will make sure of that.”

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Today’s set of difficult headlines for Truss come after she delivered her conference speech to the Tory Party faithful in Birmingham. The address went well – at least in terms of how the PM executed it, under a huge amount of pressure amid a chaotic few days.

But there appears to have been at least one factual error, with Truss claiming that she is the first PM to have gone to a comprehensive school (Theresa May’s parliamentary biography says she too attended a comp).

Truss tried to create a common enemy by framing her critics as the “anti-growth coalition”. Inside Politics is not sure that one is going to stick, given that many of those railing against her are inside her own party.

Her decision to go after the “vested interests” dressed up as think tanks was especially peculiar, given that the Institute for Economics Affairs, whose donors are kept secret, is widely credited with being behind last month’s mega-Budget.

The speech certainly got the party base going. But this was an opportunity for a PM in crisis to speak to the country more broadly amid economic turmoil. Truss did little to calm the nerves of those who are deeply concerned about their finances and there was no mention whatsoever of spiralling mortgages costs - as the price for two-year fixed deals passed 6 per cent for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008.

See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here

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Truss incorrectly claims she is the first PM to go to a comprehensive school.

“And I stand here today as the first prime minister of our country to have gone to a comprehensive school.”

Lee Cain, Boris Johnson’s former spinner, reacts to the news that Truss has dropped two Tory Party campaign aides credited with the 2019 election victory.

“Isaac Levido and Michael Brooks spearheaded the best election campaign in decades. This is a monumental error.”

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