Forcefully ousted from power, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are making a remarkable return to the forefront of Britain’s political scene, ratcheting up the pressure on incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, already weakened by issues in his government and an enduring social crisis. .
Ejected from Downing Street – the former ousted after months of scandals, and the latter after just 49 days and a policy that sent financial markets into a panic – both emerged from their media silence this week.
If Boris Johnson had not completely disappeared from the picture, occasionally showing his support for Ukraine and Brexit, Liz Truss had until now kept a low profile.
“Lack of political support”
On Sunday, the former prime minister made her first public statement since leaving in October, in the form of a lengthy op-ed in the conservative newspaper. sunday telegraph in which he persists and signs his program and criticizes the fiscal policy of Rishi Sunak.
He accuses the “orthodox economic ecosystem” and “lack of political support” of having caused his downfall and urges the Conservative Party to return to its roots by lowering taxes.
The Prime Minister and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, have so far ruled out this option due to the state of public finances.
“We want to see (taxes) fall”, but “we must first build the right foundations”, that is, reduce inflation, Business and Energy Minister Grant Shapps defended on Sunday on the BBC, considering that Liz Truss’s approach “wasn’t” the right one.
Following her podium finish, Liz Truss, who beat Rishi Sunak last summer in the Downing Street race, will give a television interview on Monday.
“disastrous” policy
British political columnists see this return as a desire to intervene in the debate among the Conservatives, just weeks away from a new budget and when Rishi Sunak is at half-mast at the polls after 100 days in power.
Although he does not criticize him by name, “it is obvious that he thinks his policy is disastrous,” writes the sunday telegraph in his publisher.
The government is facing massive social movements, with repeated strikes in health, transport or public services, to demand better wages while inflation is still above 10%.
Rishi Sunak is also under attack from the opposition, but also in conservative ranks among those close to Johnson and Truss, after having to sack Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi over tax disputes and because he maintains his confidence in Justice Minister Dominic Raab , accused of harassment of his staff.
Many supporters among the conservatives
It was also this moment that Boris Johnson chose to increase his pro-Ukrainian activism, demanding that the UK hand over more weapons, particularly fighter jets.
In Davos in early January, in Kyiv two weeks ago appearing with President Volodimir Zelensky, Johnson remains one of Ukraine’s fiercest supporters in its war against Moscow.
Visiting Washington this week where he met with Republican officials, he urged the UK government on Fox News to “give Ukrainians what they need as quickly as possible.”
“It wouldn’t be bad if we donated more tanks ourselves,” he insisted on Friday in a TalkTV interview with MP Nadine Dorries, one of his most loyal lieutenants.
Downing Street was forced to recall that Boris Johnson was “not acting on behalf of the British government”, recalling the practical difficulties of delivering fighter jets.
Both Truss and Johnson still enjoy broad support among Conservatives, with pro-Johnson criticizing Rishi Sunak for bringing down their champion by resigning his government, while some MPs defend Truss’s tax cuts.
For The Times newspaper, less than two years from the next general election, the “two somewhat wounded predecessors (of Sunak) are waiting in the wings.”
Source: BFM TV
