Editorial: Lessons from British PM’s rise and fall

Liz Truss had a whirlwind term as Britain's Prime Minister. Photo / AP

Editorial

Amid the scramble and broken egg of Liz Truss’ spectacularly short six-week term, the one contest that is really needed is not on the table.

The British public have seen another prime minister come and go, without getting a say in the matter. They are not due to vote on the people who are meant to work in their best interest for about two years.

As the ruling Conservative Party tries to cobble together another new top team this week, a snap general election should really be on the horizon.

The party would clearly not want one in its current state: It has been behind in the polls for months and its reputation for economic management has taken a heavy blow.

But there comes a point when democracy itself looks stretched and vulnerable if major changes keep occurring while the voters’ input is ignored.

One of the problems with Truss’ rise to become UK prime minister is she got there by winning a ballot of grassroots Tory members – less than 0.3 per cent of the population.

Truss and her allies detonated the markets with a free-radical mini-budget out of step with all but her fervent backers. Billions of pounds worth of tax cuts were promised for the wealthy, and the government would have had to borrow to pay for them and significant energy spending.

Amid financial turmoil, the PM’s façade of power collapsed like a house of cards and analysts say spending cuts lie ahead.

Her election came about because the previous leader, Boris Johnson, was forced out. Johnson came to power because his predecessor, Theresa May, lost the support of her MPs.

Johnson and former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak are thought to be the frontrunners in the new leadership race., with nominations closing at 2am tomorrow NZ time.

Brexit, Trussonomics, Johnson-era populism and scandals, and factional fighting within the party that has been in power for 12 years, have damaged Britain’s political health for a long time. Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the party was becoming “ungovernable”.

The Tories are currently toxic in opinion polls. One poll on Friday put the party’s support at just 14 per cent. Commissioned by GB News, the PeoplePolling survey said the most popular words to describe the British Government were “shambles”, “useless”, and “incompetent”.

Britain’s Labour Party has had a hard slog trying to convince voters it is electable and can be trusted with the keys to 10 Downing Street.

Simply not being the Conservatives seems to be working for Labour at present.

Australia is one Westminster democracy which knows how to spin through prime ministers in quick succession, with five changes in an eight-year period from 2007 to 2015. Current leader Anthony Albanese put his thumb on the issue when he said his government “is stable, is orderly. The adults are in charge”.

This is a lesson from the UK on how parties can be derailed by internal and ideological dynamics during tough times for ordinary people, and that any leadership inexperience can be exposed.

The mini-budget fiasco puts a new perspective on New Zealand’s next election. Stability and reliability are essential in a crisis, be it a pandemic or economic-related.

The public eventually punishes open party division and signs of governing incompetence when there’s so many important issues to deal with.

Unless there’s a drastic change of fortune, the UK Conservatives are heading towards a slow-moving car crash.