“If the parliamentary party loses faith in her, she won’t last very long,” explained Friday October 14 on franceinfo Dominic Grieve, former Conservative MP (1997-2019), and former Minister of Justice under the government of David Cameron (2010-2014). Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced that she will change her economic plan unveiled just two weeks ago. At the lowest in the polls, she decided to dismiss her finance minister.
franceinfo: A month after her arrival, should Liz Truss resign?
Dominic Grieve : I’m not sure she should leave her post, but her position is extremely difficult. She made a big mistake by becoming prime minister and pursuing an economic plan that either made no sense or ignored market realities. So she had to backtrack and the dismissal of the Minister of Finance left her in a position of great weakness. His decision to ask Jeremy Hunt to become Chancellor of the Exchequer [ministre chargé des Finances] is a good decision. But the mistake she made is serious and I fear for her, for the future. If the parliamentary party loses faith in her, she won’t last very long.
Do you think she is now going in the right direction?
The choice to ask Jeremy Hunt to become chancellor is correct, and she’s right to announce that she’s giving up some of what she’s done with trying to cut taxes. Unfortunately, it sent a message of instability to the markets. They are looking at the UK right now and, for complex reasons, they don’t have faith in the government’s economic policy.
Can the arrival of Jeremy Hunt change anything?
Yes. He has a far-reaching policy. It is a very good choice. It presents the stability of traditional conservative politics and does not pursue outlandish ideologies. What she did during her first days as Prime Minister.
Did Liz Truss lack caution in her choices?
Yes, she was careless. Her intention was perfectly good, she is very worried about the UK economy, she wants to grow it. She tried to find something to do it, what in England is called a “shortcut”, try to do it quickly. But when we do that, we risk worrying the markets and if the markets do not have confidence in the policy, the country cannot escape their verdict.
What should be done to get by when inflation is at 10%?
We must first pursue a policy that stimulates the economy, but we cannot do this by borrowing colossal sums to reduce taxes. We must try to find markets for the country’s products. This may require reviewing the cooperation treaty signed recently with the European Union because it is certain that there are things to improve.